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BIOGRAPHICAL 
CATALOG 

OF THE 

Portrait Gallery 

OF THE 

Saddle and 
Sirloin Club 

BY 

Edward N. Wentworth 
union stock yards " chicago, illinois 

1920 






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PREFACE 

The compiler of these brief biographies wishes to acknowledge 
his indebtedness for material and inspiration in a number of 
the stories told, to the files of The Breeder s Gazette and to books 
of Mr. Sanders (12) and "The Druid." The American worthies 
here portrayed have had their tales infinitely better told in such 
volumes as "At the Sign of the Stock Yard Inn," "Shorthorn 
Cattle," and the "Story of the Herefords" by Mr. Sanders, and 
he who would delve farther into their romance, can gain much 
of interest and inspiration by a study of their pages. To the 
many friends of those whose portraits hang on these walls, 
another debt is due, as their acquaintanceship and intimacy have 
been freely drawn upon, but the list is far too long to enumerate. 
The richness of association of Mr. Ogilvie (6) and Mr. Leonard 
(64) with these heroes of a day gone by has also been liberally 
tapped, and heartiest appreciation of their unfailing good nature 
and cordial support is hereby expressed. 

Edward N. Wentworth. 

Saddle and Sirloin Club, 
Chicago, 111., August 25, 1920. 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX 

No. OF 

Portrait 

Adams, Hon. Henry C 25 

Alexander, Robert A 82 

Allen, Louis F % 

Allerton, Samuel W., Jr 67 

Armour, Philip D 70 

Armour, Philip D., Jr 123 

Armour, J. Ogden 69 

Babcock, Dr. S. M 23 

Bakewell, Robert 78 

Barclay, Capt 80 

Bates, Thomas 74 

Bellows, George 120 

Booth, Thomas 76 

Booth, T. C 85 

Bracelet '. 134 

Brown, H. F 105 

Brown, James 110 

Brown, James N 99 

Buchanan, W. 1 4 

Buel, M. P 38 

Bunn, John W 102 

Carlyle, W. L 32 

Carpenter, Reid 106 

Clark, Thomas 61 

Clarke, N. P 45 

Cobb, Emery 97 

Coburn, F. D 13 

Colling, Charles and Robert 94 

Cooper, Col. John S 48 

Cozzens, Samuel 37 

Craig, John A 24 

Crouch, J 42 

Cruickshank, Amos 89 

Curtiss, C. F 26 

Davenport, Eugene 29 

Davidson, James 1 117 

Davison, G. Howard 8 

Detmers, Dr. H. J 127 

Dorset, Dr. Marion 30 

Dragon 147 

Dryden, John 14 

Duggan, Charles E 31 

Dunham, Mark W 43 

Durham Ox 133 

Fairfax, Henry 10 

Fairholme Footprint 145 

Favill, Dr. H. B 17 

Francis, John 50 

Franklin, Benjamin 93 

Funk, Isaac 101 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX— Continued 

No. OF 
Portrait 

Funk, Lafayette 103 

Fyvie Baron 144 

Gentry, N. H HI 

Gibson, Richard 113 

Gilbey, Sir Walter 81 

GiUett, John D 100 

Goodwin, W. R 3 

Grant, William J 124 

Grant, Ulysses S ^^ 

Groves, John W 118 

Haggin, James B 68 

Hamilton, Alexander 90 

Harding, Frank 108 

Harding, George 115 

Harris, Col. W. A 109 

Harviestoun Baroness 146 

Hatch, Hon. Wm. H 27 

Henry, Dean W. A 20 

Hermes 141 

Hord, T. B 58 

Hoard, W. D 7 

HoUoway, Robert 44 

Hutchinson, B. E 65 

Ingwersen, Charles H 56 

Ingwersen, Henry C 57 

Jefferson, Thomas 88 

Judy, J. W 104 

Ketton Ox 129 

Keefer, Louis 54 

Kohrs, Conrad 53 

Law, Dr. James 122 

Leonard, A. G 64 

Leonard, Charles E 107 

Levering, Mortimer 40 

Lincoln, Abraham 75 

Lockridge, S. F 112 

Lord Banff 135 

Lovejoy, A. J 55 

Marshall, Duncan 9 

MarshaU, John 91 

Martin, George — 121 

Maxwalton Commander 130 

Mackenzie, Murdo 49 

Melvin, Dr. A. D 34 

Miller, John 114 

Miller, William 116 

Mohler, Dr. J. R 35 

Montgomery, Andrew 46 

Morrill, Senator J. S 28 

Morris, Edward 72 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX— Continued 

No. OF 

Portrait 

Morris, Nelson 71 

Morris Sheep 137 

Morris Six 139 

Morton, Secretary J. Sterling 16 

Ogilvie, R. B 6 

Pabst, Captain Fred 47 

Pickrell, J. Henry 95 

Pierce, B. R 59 

Pearson, Dr. Leonard 1 

Penn, William 125 

Pink Brillante 131 

Prather, J. Frank 119 

Renick, Felix 92 

Rosenbaum, Joseph 51 

Roundup on Bear Creek Ranch 52 

Ruberta 140 

Rusk, Secretary Jeremiah 18 

Rutherford, Dr. J. G 2 

Ryan, J. E. G 36 

Salmon. Dr. D. E 33 

Sanders, A. H 12 

Sanders, J. H 21 

Sherman, John 66-142 

Skinner, Dean J. H 11 

Skinner, W. E '. 39 

Spencer Ox 132 

St. Valentine , 136 

Swift, Gustavus Franklin 62 

Thomson, Robert B 22 

Tilden, Edward 63 

Tomson. John Ross 126 

Torr, Wm 84 

Truman, J. H 41 

Van Meter, B. F 98 

Van Natta. W. S 60 

Victory, Winged 143 

Vilas, Senator Wm. F 19 

Washington, General George 86 

Waters, Henry Jackson 5 

Webb, Jonas 87 

Webster, Daniel 79 

Wetherell. William 83 

Whitehall Marshal 138 

White Heifer that Traveled 128 

Wilson, Secretary James 15 

Wilson, Thomas E 73 



THE MISSION OF THE CLUB 
The clanking whir of the nineteenth century in industrial 
America, the reddened glow of her furnaces, the webbed weave 
of her rails, and the crackling luminescence of her electrical 
achievements; all by their spectacular novelties have diverted 
the national attention from the artisanship and artistry of those 
who, from farm and flock, grassland and granary, market and 
menu, have builded an unsurpassed husbandry and cradled its 
distribution. Today the crowding world has sounded its food 
cry, its pitch shrilled by war, and public attention is gradually 
focussing on food sources. Against such contingency the live- 
stock industries have builded, but the squirming consumer looks 
not behind the price barrier, and dreams not of the masterly 
achievements of yardman and packer, showman and rancher, 
breeder and producer, that lie hidden behind the veil. The marvel 
is not that prices have been unprecedentedly high, it is that there 
has been so complete a production and distribution that the food 
gaps in the friendly areas of the world have been successfully 
stopped. 

Heroes of production have there been, heroes of husbandry, 
heroes of industry, each contributing his share toward the ulti- 
mate fillment of the public maw. Yet where lives the urbanite 
who can tell of them, or who can recognize the broad service and 
ideals that have led to the perpetuation of their memories upon 
the walls of this inner shrine? Here are portrayed in oils and 
pigments, the loved features of those who have wrought their 
works to the cohesion, advancement and prestige of the livestock 
industry. What if the passing crowd forget, in here, revivified, 
the eyes of those who gave look down, their souls still sing their 
sagas to the mellowed memories of those who would commune, 
or fling their challenge to the youth who sets his foot to travel in 
their paths. The swarded pasture, the stir of market and the 
tensities of tanbark take on new luster under their beatitudes, in- 
spiring emulation of their achievements. 



8 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Many there be who can ride the flood of an energized idea, 
stealing from its latencies powers for their own emolumence. 
Such by the hundred receive popular acknowledgment, urban and 
rural alike, but all too frequently the man who can originate such 
an idea is little known and only locally recognized. He who 
unseals the fount from which the flood springs, too often is 
washed up on the shore, short yards from where he started, while 
the public eye ignores the bruised battler to watch the crest of 
his liberated wave. Or, if his sacrifice be seen, gives approbative 
glance, an-d forgets, in seeking new sensations in the whirl of 
modern progress. Today is only temporarily discriminative, its 
heroes are short-lived and its memories shorter. He who does 
and gives sooner finds obscurity than he who dazzles and takes. 
This reconstructive period finds America taking too much for 
granted. The stream of meats which has plenished the food table 
of this country has been so long enjoyed that it is a matter of 
commonplace, to be admired for its volume, but to be credited to 
no one. Hl-advised agitators and shortsighted economists through 
influencing executive and legislative powers have tinkered with 
meat supplies to the permanent injury of the producers of this 
generation. The achievements of men who look upon us from 
these walls are ignored and unknown, and the labor for which 
they stand, unrecognized. Their perpetuation furnishes the justi- 
fication of this gallery; the broadening acquaintance with them, 
its mission. To the petty jealousies and frictions of an agricul- 
ture developed from so many provincial angles, it brings a court 
of authority. Saddle and Sirloin emblematic of the field of 
their jurisdiction, christens the club walls on which the portraits 
hang, and the organization of active workers in husbandry and 
industry who uphold them. 

The permanent housing of the International Livestock Expo- 
sition at the Union Stock Yards in 1900 made Chicago as firmly 
the pivot of the improved livestock industry as it had previously 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 9 

been the pivot of livestock marketing. By that act the scattered 
offices of the numerous pedigree associations found a logical loca- 
tion, and a common center for the vast ramifications of the live- 
stock industry was established. Chicago became the contact point 
for those who breed and those who feed, those who sell and those 
who buy, those who kill and those who cure; all that mighty array 
of stockmen, shippers, commission men, packers, breeders, vet- 
erinarians, manufacturers of stock feeds, medicine and serums, 
harness and saddlery men, fertilizer makers, builders of farm 
machinery, and the journalists of the growing agriculture. So 
varied a constituency early created the need for quarters suitable 
for the fraternal discussion of the important affairs pertaining 
to the interests they represented. 

Appreciation of this need called into existence the Saddle and 
Sirloin Club. The germ of the idea unfolded in the mutual 
minds of Robert B. Ogilvie (6), Arthur G. Leonard (64), and 
Alvin H. Sanders (12) in June, 1903, as a corollary to Mr. 
Leonard's achievement in building the purebred Livestock Record 
Building, while the name was suggested by Richard Gibson from 
"The Drui4's" tales of that title. Mr. Leonard's acquaintanceship 
as general manager of the Union Stock Yards, Mr. Sanders' life- 
time relation with the growth of livestock journalism, pedigree 
values and breed history, and Mr. Ogilvie's personal intimacy 
with the gentlemen breeders and sportsmen of Britain and 
America, the show and breeding veterans of a half century, all 
furnished viewpoints assuring the broadest foundations in club 
ideals. In the days of the old Lake Side Stock Show the necessary 
social and business center was provided in the old Grand Pacific 
hostelry, but the retirement of Messrs. Drake and Parker in 1894 
scattered the clans. Hence from its inception the Saddle and 
Sirloin Club was foredestined to a broader function than the 
refreshment of those whose business and financial interests 
located them at the Stock Yards. Here numberless meetings 



10 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

fraught with bovine, equine, porcine or ovine significance have 
been hel-d. Here college students have first made contact with 
the broad sweep of breeding's artistry. Here visiting friends 
from the two hemispheres have found the inspiration and atmos- 
phere that has led our stockmen to ultimate accomplishment. 

The functioning of the club as a unit in cohering husbandry 
and commerce initiated several clearly defined club activities. 
First and foremost it has made itself the ally of the International 
Livestock Show, being perpetual host to the latter's guests. Sec- 
ondly, and with the aid of the International, it attracts each 
year, and in ever increasing numbers, men of education, wealth 
and high business ability to the ranks of modern agriculture, 
especially livestock breeding. Thirdly, through admitting to 
membership staff workers of the agricultural colleges and 
through offering gold medals in essay contests to agricultural 
students, it has stimulated the formation of the Saddle and 
Sirloin and Block and Bridle Clubs of the colleges, and has 
led many a noteworthy novice into the ranks of the constructive 
initiate. Fourthly, it has committed itself to the perpetual com- 
memoration of those worthies who have bequeathed to mankind 
the improved animals and the organized industries that have 
made modern production and distribution possible. Fifthly, it 
has formed the nucleus of what it some day hopes will become 
the leading livestock library of the world. 

To Robert Ogilvie (6) the club owes the idea of the gallery, 
and it is to him and H. F. Brown (105) that the indebtedness 
for the first portraits is due. Largely through the individual 
efforts of Mr. Ogilvie the atmosphere and the spirit of the club 
has developed. While club officials have changed he has labored 
unremittingly and unceasingly on the gallery, striving constantly 
for improved artistic standards and for worthy recipients of the 
club's honors. It will ever be a memorial to his taste and a 
tribute to his knowledge of the makers of the livestock industry. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 11 

A BATTLER AGAINST THE WHITE PLAGUE 

1. One of the foremost forces in the upbuilding of the vet- 
erinary profession in the eastern United States was Dr. Leonard 
Pearson, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the 
University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Pearson was born in Evans- 
ville, Ind., August 17, 1868. Much of his early education came 
from the home instruction of his mother, and in 1888 he received 
the degree of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture at Cornell 
University. Two years later he earned his D. V. M. from the 
University of Pennsylvania, and then went abroad to attend 
lectures in the veterinary schools of Berlin and Dresden. He 
studied bacteriology in Koch's Laboratory where he became inter- 
ested in tuberculosis, and was permitted, the facilities of the 
laboratory of the veterinary division of the German Army. On 
his return he was made assistant professor of medicine in the 
veterinary department of the University of Pennsylvania, and 
three years later he was promoted to full professor. In 1897 
he was elected Dean of the school. 

Dr. Pearson was appointed state veterinarian in 1896 and 
served continuously in that capacity until his death. It was 
through his ejfforts that the Livestock Sanitary Board of Penn- 
sylvania was organized. He reorganized the veterinary school 
at the University of Pennsylvania and secured the new buildings 
and equipment, which are undoubtedly the best in the country. 
In addition, he procured a farm for experimental work in con- 
nection with animal diseases. 

Dr. Pearson was a recognized leader in the control of in- 
fectious diseases. He was the first in America to use tuberculin 
for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in cattle. His investigations 
on bovine tuberculosis were extensive and most valuable, and 



12 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

at the time of his death he was endeavoring to find an immuniz- 
ing agent against this disease. So eminent had he become in 
state veterinary work that in 1895 Secretary Morton offered 
him the position of Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry. 
His interest in veterinary education and his loyalty to Pennsyl- 
vania led him to decline the offer. He was a prominent writer 
on veterinary subjects. For years he conducted the veterinary 
magazine through which he gave to his profession much of the 
best in the languages of other countries, as well as many valuable 
contributions of his own. In 1908 the University of Pennsyl- 
vania conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Medi- 
cine. 

Dr. Pearson was a member of the Seventh International 
Congress of Hygiene and Dermography held in London in 1891, 
and of the Third International Congress for the Study of Tuber- 
culosis held in Paris in 1898. He was Secretary and President 
of the American Veterinary Medical Association, for two years 
was president of the Pennsylvania State Veterinary Medical 
Association, and for a similar period headed the Keystone Vet- 
erinary Medical Society. Dr. Pearson was an active member of 
the Guernsey Cattle Club at Philadelphia, of the Pennsylvania 
Livestock Breeders' Association and of the State Grange, While 
not a cattle showman, Dr. Pearson did a great deal toward in- 
teresting men of wealth and discrimination in the cause of the 
Guernsey, and was an instrumental factor in their dissemination 
throughout the state. Professionally, Dr. Pearson held mem- 
berships in the American Public Health Association, the City 
Board of Health in Philadelphia, the State Board of Health, and 
was Veterinarian to the State Board of Agriculture. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 13 

The reorganization of the veterinary school and the Pennsyl- 
vania State Livestock Sanitary Board are the resuhs of his 
efforts that stand out in bold relief above much else of great 
value that he did. While these will be known to the historian, 
the sterling qualities of the man will abide with those who knew 
him. He was a manly man with a sweetness of disposition rarely 
found among men. His deep interest in the advancement and 
betterment of his profession caused him "to burn the candle of 
life at both ends." As a result, he died a premature death while 
on a vacation at Spruce Brook, Newfoundland, September 20, 
1909. 



14 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A VETERINARIAN WHO NURSED A YOUNG AGRICULTURE 

2. One of the broadest executive careers vouchsafed to a 
Canadian agriculturist has fallen to the lot of Dr. John Gunion 
Rutherford, horse breeder, veterinarian, agricultural official, 
army officer and railroad executive. Dr. Rutherford was born 
at Mountain Cross, Peebleshire, Scotland, December 25, 1857. 
He was "a son of the Manse," his father being the Rev. Robt. 
Rutherford, a Presbyterian minister at Peebles. He was edu- 
cated at the Glasgow high school, at Ikiinburgh, and by means 
of a private tutor. As a young man he came to Canada where 
he attended the Ontario Agricultural College and the Ontario 
Veterinary College at Guelph. Following graduation he entered 
upon veterinary practice, being located at various points in 
Canada, the United States and Mexico, In 1884 he settled at 
Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, and undertook horse breeding and 
production as a side operation to his practice. From 1887 to 
1892 he was veterinary inspector for the provincial government, 
being elected in the latter year to the Lakeside (Manitoba) Legis- 
lature. He remained a legislator for four years, and was then 
elected to the Canadian House of Commons, as a member from 
MacDonald. 

One of his earliest duties in an official way for Canadian agri- 
culture was to represent the Dominion at the International Insti- 
tute of Agriculture at Rome. In 1908 he was a delegate to 
the International Congress on Tuberculosis at Washington, and 
was elected the same year to a term as president of the American 
Veterinary Medical Association. In 1909 he became president 
of the Civil Service Association of Canada, chairman of the 
International Commission on the Control of Bovine Tuberculosis, 
and president of the Western Canada Livestock Union. For 
many years previous he had been president of the Horse Breeders' 
Association of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. He 
gained early military experience in the northwest, having served 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 15 

under Gen. Middleton as veterinary officer to the northwest field 
force, during the Riel Rebellion in 1885. Dr. Rutherford has 
published a number of monographs on veterinary subjects as 
well as on horse breeding and the care of horses. His chief 
recreations are riding and driving, and he is a notable fisher- 
man in the mountain waters of the northwest. He has supported 
the chase most heartily and is an officer and member of the 
Rideau Hunt Club, and the Ranchman's Club of Calgary. 

From 1902 to 1912 he was veterinary director general of 
Canada, and from 1906 to 1912, livestock commissioner for the 
Dominion. At the close of the latter year, he resigned his posi- 
tion to assume the superintendency of agriculture and animal 
industry with the department of natural resources of the Canadian 
Pacific Railway. After six years of this duty he was appointed 
member of the Dominion Board of Railway Commissioners, with 
headquarters at the Canadian capital at Ottawa. The variety of 
interests which he has so successfully maintained throughout his 
life has served to give him an optimism of viewpoint and a for- 
ward tendency in thinking that have been of real service to Cana- 
dian citizenship. 



16 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A WORD PAINTER OF LIVESTOCK MASTERPIECES 

3. The dean of American showyard reporters was William 
Ransdell Goodwin. Never was the story of a live stock exhi- 
bition fully told to a North American breeder until he had 
opportunity to read Mr, Goodwin's virile comment, and never 
could he visualize clearly the incidents of the big ring battles 
until his forceful pen had touched up the higher lights, Mr. 
Goodwin's indomitable energy and his extraordinary facility 
made a name for him that is almost immortal. He possessed a 
perennial potentiality to find in each new show an added luster 
in the animals on review, and from one season to another was 
able to classify each detail in which the exhibit of that day had 
surpassed its predecessor. His reports of the World's Columbian 
Exposition, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the Alaska- 
Yukon Exposition, the Panama-Pacific Exposition, the Iowa and 
Illinois State Fairs, the American Royals and the Internationals 
were classic, no matter what the breed nor how unusual the feature 
he discussed. He was one of the most forceful personalities 
known to the field of agricultural journalism, 

Mr, Goodwin was born at Brookville, Indiana, August 19, 
1863. His father, William Ransdell Goodwin, Sr., was a Meth- 
odist divine, then president of a college at Brookville. His early 
education was in the public schools of Danville, Quincy and De- 
catur, 111., and he spent three years at the Illinois Wesleyan Uni- 
versity. In 1883 he completed his college course at DePauv 
University, receiving his A. B. degree. Three years later his 
A. M. was conferred by the same school. He was a member of 
Beta Theta Pi in college, and for years was joint host with his 
brother, Judge John B. Goodwin, to the Chicago Alumni Asso- 
ciation of the fraternity, either at Heatherton, his brother's Naper- 
ville home, or at Oakhurst, his own estate near the same town. 

Following his graduation in 1883, he allied himself with his 
brother in the breeding of Aberdeen-Angus cattle at Beloit, 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 17 

Kans., a breed with which his brother secured a lifelong success. 
"Will" Goodwin was not destined for this long, however, as he 
was a born writer, and his facility of expression coupled with 
his love for livestock opened for him a future in agricultural 
journalism which did not terminate until he had become one of 
its most forceful figures. In the summer of 1885 he joined The 
Breeder s Gazette, then in its third year of life. His first duties 
were in the business department, looking after the interests of 
the holders of public sales and aiding breeders in the purchase 
of desirable animals. After a few years, however, he entered 
the editorial department, first as assistant editor and later as 
managing editor. Mr, Goodwin succeeded to the last position 
when the editor of the Gazette, Mr. Alvin Sanders (12), was 
appointed on the wool commission by President Taft. 

In 1899 Mr. Goodwin acquired an interest in the stock of the 
Sanders Publishing Co., and became its vice-presi<lent. In 1902 
he proceeded to England and Scotland as staff representative of 
The Breeder's Gazette at the English Royal and Highland an4 
Agricultural Shows. During this trip he made many warm 
friends and broadened his livestock views perceptibly. From 
the opening of the International he was entrusted with the hos- 
pitality extended the foreign judges, and secreted them at Oak- 
hurst, far from overzealous friends and designing exhibitors, until 
the show actually opened. 

On his farm at Oakhurst he bred Berkshire swine. Buff Leg- 
horn fowls and Indian Runner ducks. He was very fond of pet 
stock and reared Scotch Collies and Angora cats. For several 
years he was president of the American Cat Association. He was 
a member of the Aberdeen-Angus Association, a director and 
whilom vice-president of the American Saddle Horse Associa- 
tion, a judge of the breed, and a staunch friend of General John 
B. Castleman, its chief promoter. His description of the saddle 
horse gaits in The Breeder s Gazette of two decades ago is a rare 



18 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

bit of technical writing. Through the columns of this paper he 
became a powerful promoter of the dairy interests and a strong 
supporter of the National Dairy Council. He was a member of 
the National Dairy Association and first president of the National 
Society of Record Associations. He was an early backer of the 
Saddle and Sirloin Club, and a life member of the Interna- 
tional Livestock Exposition. 

Mr. Goodwin was an ardent automobile enthusiast and a mem- 
ber of the Chicago Automobile Club. As a public speaker he 
was in great demand at breed conventions, association meetings, 
and livestock banquets. His delivery was forceful, his logic 
sound; at the 1914 International he was credited with making 
the speech to the National Swine Growers that launched the 
National Swine Show. He was a program fixture for both Jersey 
and Berkshire breeders, often being called across the continent 
by the Jersey men for his evening talk. 

Editorially his shillaly swung sturdily, and he never hesitated to 
wield it when the occasion demanded. He was possessed of strong 
convictions, always ready to give battle for sound principles, and 
always willing to back to the limit in an editorial way those whose 
cause he championed. He stamped his manhood and forceful in- 
tegrity on every undertaking upon which he entered. His editorials 
were meaty and pregnant with truths. A writer of an obituary 
said of him, "He was as rugged and strong as a block of granite 
and could be swerved from his ideals for right and justice neither 
by threats nor entreaties, neither for self nor affection. He knew 
but one code of ethics — do right as it is given you to know what 
right is. He never harmed a human being nor allowed one to 
harm him a second time." 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 19 

His spirit was patriarchal and his conscience guided his 
thoughts. He was one of the most distinguished Congregational 
laymen in the country, and was honored by being selected to 
serve as moderator at an Hlinois conference. His prayer on that 
occasion remains a classic to those who heard it. He was buried 
Tuesday afternoon, April 8, 1919, in the village cemetery at 
Naperville, his shaft within sight of Oakhurst's pillars. No stone 
can ever symbolize the imperishable monument he holds in the 
hearts and minds of American breeders. 



20 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

DIRECTOR OF THE CLASSIC COLUMBIAN 

4. It has not been the fortune of maiiy Americans to rise from 
the ranks of agriculture to highest influence in the diplomatic 
world, but in recent years this was indeed the achievement of the 
Hon. W. I. Buchanan. Bom on an Iowa farm, he was grounded 
firmly in the fundamental cycle of the corn belt, "to grow more 
corn, to feed more hogs, to buy more land," and so on, ad infini- 
tum. Mr. Buchanan's experience particularly stressed the corn 
item, and after becoming connected with the banking business in 
Sioux City, he organized and staged the first purely corn show 
ever held. This was founded in the early nineties and was held 
in a "corn palace" especially constructed for the purpose. His 
success here led to his being appointed chief of agriculture at the 
World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Numerous important 
acquaintanceships originated here, and stress was brought to bear 
on President Cleveland to secure the secretaryship of agriculture 
in the new cabinet. But previous political promises prevented 
this, and he was appointed Minister to the Argentine. His service 
here was so eminently satisfactory that in spite of repeated 
attempts to resign. President McKinley forced him to continue 
in office under the republican adjninistration. Mr. Buchanan 
rendered an invaluable service in the establishment of broader 
trade relations with the South American republic, and developed 
such a degree of confidence among Latin-Americans that he was 
selected to establish definitely the Venezuelan border line after 
The Hague had completed its arbitration of the border claims. 

On his return from Buenos Aires, he was appointed Director 
General of the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, and con- 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 21 

tributed largely to the agricultural success of the show. Mr. 
Buchanan was first American Minister to the Republic of Pan- 
ama and was High Commissioner representing the United States 
during the Venezuelan dispute. His death occurred from apo- 
plexy in London, October 12, 1909, while returning to his apart- 
ments from a dinner. He was a man of deepest integrity and 
sterling judgment, and he rendered a noteworthy service to the 
livestock industry in years when public recognition was vitally 
needed. 



22 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A PROPONENT OF LIVESTOCK SCIENCE 

5. Foremost among the men who have studied the needs of the 
animal in birth, growth and preparation for market, is Henry 
Jackson Waters. Dr. Waters has had a career far more varied 
than becomes the lot of the average college professor and investi- 
gator. By the force of his personality, by his driving ambition 
to get at the elemental subjects the livestock man must meet, and 
by his continually open and inquisitive mind, he has wrought 
for himself a niche in agricultural progress that no other per- 
sonality will fill. Dr. Waters was born at Center, Mo., Novem- 
ber 23, 1865, and received his B. S. A. at the University of 
Missouri in 1886. In 1904 and 1905 he studied in the animal 
nutrition laboratories of the Universities of Leipsic and Zurich. 
In 1913 the New Hampshire State College conferred on him the 
degree of Doctor of Laws, and three years later the University 
of Missouri honored him similarly. 

His public activities began upon college graduation. He was 
Assistant Secretary of the Missouri State Board of Agriculture 
from 1886 to 1888; assistant agriculturist of the Missouri Experi- 
ment Station from 1886 to 1891; professor of agriculture and 
agriculturist in the experiment station at the Pennsylvania Agri- 
cultural College from 1892 to 1895. In 1895 he was returned 
to the University of Missouri as professor of agriculture. Dean 
of the College of Agriculture and director of the experiment 
station, a position he retained until 1909. The sessions of the 
Graduate School of Agriculture at the University of Ohio in 1902 
and the University of Illinois in 1906, saw him as lecturer in 
animal nutrition, while he was appointed director of the Missouri 
State Agricultural Exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposi- 
tion in 1903-1904. During his last year in Missouri, he was 
president of the State Board of Agriculture, and in 1909 was 
called to the Kansas State Agricultural College as President. 
While in this last position he was made commissioner from the 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 23 

United States to the Philippine Islands to report on the agri- 
cultural an4 educational development, and had opportunity to 
visit Japan and China at the same time. In 1909 he was made 
a member of the Kansas State Board of Education and in 1913 
a member of the State School Book Commission for Kansas. 
His interest in the direction of general education led to his elec- 
tion as president of the Kansas State Teachers' Association in 
1911-1912. During the year 1913-1914 he presided over the 
International Dry Farming Congress. In 1914 and 1915 he was 
president of the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Sci- 
ence, and, during these years brought out the most complete high 
school text book on agriculture yet published, entitled "The 
Essentials of Agriculture." During his years of research in the 
University of Missouri, Dr. Waters published several papers 
on the maintenance requirements of calves, growing cattle and 
mature animals, but his particularly chosen field of research was 
the influence of the plane of nutrition on the type and body form 
of the animal. In 1918 the weekly Kansas City Star offered him 
so broad an opportunity to reach the farmers and cattlemen of 
the southwest that he resigned iiis presidency at Manhattan and 
entered into the editorial fieW. During the war Dr. Waters acted 
as chairman of the Kansas National Council of Defense, Food 
Administrator, Chairman of the Regional Board of War Industry, 
and Member of the 1917 Commission to fix the Price of Wheat. 
In 1920 he was appointed a member of the Industrial Commis- 
sion authorized by President Wilson. His appreciation of the 
problems of the practical farmer and small stockbreeder have 
made his work of almost classic importance to the students of 
animal husbandry and to the cattlemen of the shortgrass country. 
Dr. Waters' portrait was presented to the Saddle and Sirloin 
Club by the students of the University of Missouri and friends. 



24 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

ARCHITECT OF OUR TEMPLE 

6. Richest in associations with those noble husbandmen of the 
half-century agone lives Robert Burns Ogilvie, master of Blair- 
gowrie, and spiritual progenitor of the gallery whose tales these 
pages bear. Since first he glimpsed the concept of the stockman's 
shrine, his pulses have daily quickened to its service and upbuild- 
ing. He it is, of all the throng with pastoral ideals, whose memo- 
ries have fruited full; his dearest wish has been to find horizons 
which the romance of the husbandman has not yet reached, and 
through the message of these worthy souls give vision of the 
artistry of herds and flocks. From Scottish forebears he has 
gained the flavor of the land, the wind-swept slopes of pastured 
hills have given him command of herder thought. Idyl of pedi- 
gree and blood, of show yard stress, find lodgment in his heart, 
and day by day, inspire anew fresh goals for rural youth. 

The blood of Forfarshire and Fife runs in his veins. Before 
his birth his parents crossed to Whitby, Canada, and settled near 
the site of modern Ashburne. From every viewpoint the family 
was pioneer, and the common school instead of giving him the 
training for his busy life, opened new fields of thought wherein 
the world's masters had traveled, the realm of books. He has 
been a voluminous and careful reader, and though necessity early 
forced him into the mercantile world, the stored knowledge of 
nearly six decades finds ready access to his tongue, and faultless 
memory can trace it to its source. While still in his teens he 
crossed from Ontario to Wisconsin, and in 1867 settled in Madi- 
son. Employment was found in a dry goods store, and three 
years later the foreclosers of a mortgage on the business placed 
him in charge. One year proved him sufficiently a master to 
cause the creditors of his first employer to sell the business to 
him. Five years more saw him the owner of one of the leading 
dry goods stores in Wisconsin. 




R. B. OGILVIE 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 25 

But the Scottish heritage stirred in his blood, and the love of 
livestock led him to supplemental fields. In 1867 he made his 
first shipment of Clydesdales from Canada to Wisconsin and 
entered the showring for the first time that year. As yet he had 
no land and his animals were stabled in town. In the early 
seventies his equine interests had developed to such a degree that 
he deemed it best to secure a farm, and enter the draft horse 
game in a more permanent manner. He was very fortunate in 
obtaining Courtney Hall, lying five miles east from Madison. 
Courtney Hall had been founded by an English nobleman, and 
had a most pretentious castle and fine outbuildings. Here he 
expanded his Clydesdale interests and for a short period engaged 
in the breeding of Shorthorns, long enough to develop a herd 
of really top rank, asi far as showyard honors were concerned. 
In 1883 an opportunity came to dispose of Courtney Hall at a 
profit, and he secured Blairgowrie m the township of Vienna in 
Dane County. 

The female stock that ultimately founded his greatest successes 
was obtained very shortly after Blairgowrie was established. 
Robert Bruce had selected for James J. Hill the finest bred and 
highest priced importation of Clydesdale mares ever sent to Amer- 
ica. Thirteen head were included in the lot and the prices ranged 
from 500 to 800 guineas in Scotland. The original price quoted did 
not meet Mr. Ogilvie's purse, and it was not until he had made 
four trips to North Oaks, that a satisfactory bargain was struck. 
Mr. Hill had had an ambition to become a second Sir Wm. Ster- 
LING'Maxwell, breeder of Damley, and wished North Oaks to be 
an American Keir. However, he was unfortunate in the groom 
selected to come to America with them, and after ineffectual 
attempts to replace him, decided to abandon the project and sold 
his entire importation to Mr. Ogilvie. The possession of such a 
fine mare stock necessitated a suitable stallion, and this 
animal Mr. Ogilvie found in the "Matchless" MacQueen, 



26 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

son of MacGregor by Darnley, and imported to Can- 
ada by Graham Bros. MacQueen reached Blairgowrie in 1887, 
and for the next few years a new era in Clydesdale breeding was 
developed in America. MacQueen put tops and middles on Blair- 
gowrie Clydesdales, at the same time he gave them proper under- 
pinning. Mr. Ogilvie was enabled to show young stock in a 
bloom never before attempted in Clydesdale arenas on this side 
of the water. Previously it was not thought possible to put any 
flesh at all on a young animal before growth was obtained with- 
out ruining it both for work an<i for breeding. Showyard suc- 
cesses for Blairgowrie were phenomenal. In the late 80's in an 
interbreed contest, MacQueen and progeny defeated Mr. Dun- 
ham's (43) great Brilliant, with more mature offspring. At the 
World's Columbian Exposition, the Lasses o' Gowrie were invinc- 
ible, MacQueen won the aged stallion class and Mr. Ogilvie 
unquestionably demonstrated the supremacy of the Darnley blood 
as compared to that of Prince of Wales. Most notable among the 
sons of MacQueen was the stallion Young- MacQueen, sold to 
the Graham Bros., as a two-year old. He won the championship 
at the 1897 Chicago show, and came back to the International of 
1903 to win breed supremacy once more, again testifying to the 
durability of the MacQueen kind. Untoward financial conditions 
following the panic of 1893, forced him to disperse his stud and 
to sell Blairgowrie in 1897, MacQueen going back to the Grahams. 

In 1900 he came to Chicago as Secretary of the American 
Clydesdale Association, a position he has held ever since. This 
year was also the first year of the International, and Mr. Ogh.VIE 
was elected Superintendent of the Horse Department. Under his 
constructive efforts the International Horse Department was a 
success from the beginning. There has seldom been a show with 
less than 400 horse entries, while on some occasions the number 
has been nearly doubled. Mr. Ogilvie has laid especial emphasis 
on the draft gelding show, and the shows of single animals, pairs, 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 27 

fours and sixes have become historic. In connection with his 
relations at the International he has been appointed buyer of the 
draft horses for the Union Stock Yard Co. and so successful have 
been his purchases, that the six-horse team that won in 1913 was 
of his selection, and individual animals from the yards have won 
high class honors at subsequent shows. 

As judge he has been very popular. He placed the ribbons 
on the Continental Draft and Coach breeds at the Columbian 
Exposition and has officiated at numerous fairs since. He was 
selected as one of the three judges to represent America in 1916 
in the International exchange with the Argentine but circumstances 
arose at the last moment that prevented his taking the trip. Mr. 
Ogilvie rendered a great service to the teaching of animal hus- 
bandry through his conceiving of the students' livestock judging 
contest. In the early 90's he suggested the idea to Professor 
Craig, (24) and contributed the prizes for a contest conducted 
at Madison, the entrants being Wisconsin boys in attendance at 
the University. When the International opened, he worked unceas- 
ingly for staging a contest between representative teams from 
the diflferent agricultural colleges, and finally accomplished it 
through the generosity of Mr. Charles Robinson, of Clay, 
Robinson & Co., whose firm contributed $1,000 annually to 
finance the necessary expense and the prizes. 

Under Mr. Ogilvie's administration of the Clydesdale Asso- 
ciation there have been attracted to its standard a number of men 
throughout New England and the Middle States, who have become 
ardent advocates and aggressive breeders of Clydesdales, men 
whose tastes, dispositions and wealth are such as to secure for 
the breed a most prosperous future. These men have purchased 
the very best blood of the breed in Scotland, at long prices, and 
are building on these foundations in America to newer and 
greater breeding triumphs. 



28 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

His greatest service to livestock men in general, however, is his 
founding of the portrait gallery in the Saddle and SiRLOiN Club. 
While at Blairgowrie he had made the beginnings of such a gal- 
lery by securing mezzotints, etchings, engravings and oil paint- 
ings of the principal contributors to the art of breeding in 
Britain throughout the early part of the last century, and the oils 
were loaned to the Club as a nucleus from which the present 
gallery has grown. The idea has been copied since by the Uni- 
versity of Illinois in its Hall of Fame, in which portraits of 
notable contributors to the agriculture of the state are hung, but 
as yet there is no real rival to the gallery of this Club, both 
because of the extent of the interests affected and the breadth of 
appeal in the achievements of the different men honored. Nowhere 
in America does there exist any rival for inspirational value to 
rural youth, to the portraits hung here. 

Mr. Ocilvie is an inspiration himself to every young lover of 
purebred livestock. He possesses a wealth of memories and asso- 
ciations with the men of the last generation rivalled only by 
William Miller (116), and Richard Gibson (113). This kin- 
ship was felt strongly by the three, and resulted in an intimate 
relationship whose sentiment and charm has been rarely equalled. 
Each possessed a love for high thoughts well expressed, and each 
was a master in his own way of this art. So it came that in the 
fall of 1905 there was an almost prophetic quality in the words 
of Mr. Miller, as he sat on the veranda of the old Transit House 
in the cool of the evening, during his last return to his Iowa 
home after visiting in Canada: 

"Robert, I shall never see you again. This is my last trip. I 
must say goodbye. I feel sorry for you. All of us whom you 
have loved are passing on and you will be left here alone, the 
solitary oak in the tilled field, whose leaves drop one by one, and 
lonely waits the day when he too shall fall beside them." 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 29 

THE PIONEER IN DAIRY JOURNALISM 

7. William Dempster Hoard, patriarch of dairy husbandry, 
was born in Stockbridge, New York, October 10, 1836, and died 
at Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, November 22, 1918. His boyhood 
days were spent on his grandfather's farm, where he gained a 
wealth of information that served him well in his later years. 
At sixteen he was hired by Waterman Simons, a York State dairy- 
man, who taught him the rudiments of making butter and cheese, 
and the feeding and care of cattle. In 1857 the lure of the west 
brought him to Lowell, Wisconsin. His life ideals were as yet 
uncrystallized and for several years he taught singing school, gave 
instruction on the violin, and at odd moments pursued studies to 
prepare him as a minister of the gospel. He received a license 
to exhort, but owing to vital differences of opinion with the pre- 
siding elder over some of the fundamental church doctrines, he 
burned his license and went to cutting wood. 

The Civil War found him in Company D of the Fourth Wis- 
consin Volunteers, and he was under General Butler at the 
capture of New Orleans. Ill health forced him to leave the army, 
and he returned to his parental home in New York, but with 
recuperation, he again enlisted, this time in Battery A of the 
New York Artillery, and served until the end of the war. Upon 
discharge he returned to Wisconsin, where he entered the nursery 
and hop growing business. He ma<le some money in the former 
branch, but lost an even greater sum on his hops, leaving him 
a debt that required twenty years' work to meet. In 1870 he 
started the Jefferson County Union at Lake Mills, and in 1872 
removed to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, where this paper has since 
been published. Hoard's Dairyman was launched in 1885. In 
1871 he founded the Wisconsin State Dairyman's Association, of 
which he was made the Secretary. This was among the first 
organizations of the kind in the United States, and it developed 



30 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

SO potent an influence that today Wisconsin is without a peer in 
dairy production. 

In the early 70's Mr. Hoard glimpsed the vision of what dairy- 
ing in the west might become. At that time Wisconsin's total 
production of cheese annually was less than a million pounds, 
but in the absence of marketing facilities this seemed an enor- 
mous amount to the people of his time. The Liverpool market 
laid the price foundations for cheese, and the bulk of American 
product was shipped there. New York and the Western Reserve 
in Ohio were the great cheese producing sections, but Mr. Hoard 
realized that suitable freight rates would increase Wisconsin's 
cheese production by leaps and bounds. At that time it cost two 
and one-half cents a pound to ship cheese by ordinary freight to 
the port of New York. Interviews with representatives of the 
different freight lines in Chicago proved fruitless, but as a last 
resort he broached his scheme to W. W. Chandler, agent of the 
Star Union Line, the first refrigerator line in America. Mr. 
Chandler's "What do you want, sir?", snapped at him from a 
wheeled chair, seemed none too promising. Mr. Hoard replied, 
"I represent a million pounds of Wisconsin cheese, seeking an 
outlet on the Atlantic seaboard ... I want you to make 
a rate of one cent a pound from Wisconsin to the Atlantic in 
refrigerated cars, and I also want you to send a refrigerator car 
to Watertown, Wisconsin, to a meeting of our Dairy Board next 
week, and come yourself to explain its advantages and workings." 
The audacity of the request turned Mr. Chandler breathless, 
and to his feeble inquiry, "Is there anything else you want?", 
Mr. Hoard responded, "Not yet." The project was successful, 
and the rate continued for approximately thirty-five years. In 
the year 1913, Wisconsin cheese products exceeded one hundred 
and ninety million pounds, while over one hundred and thirty- 
three million pounds of butter were produced. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 31 

Hoard's Dairyman has grown from a small four page paper 
to a thirty or forty page weekly edition, and has an international 
circulation of over seventy-five thousand. 

In 1888 he was elected Governor of Wisconsin. In this posi- 
tion he succeeded in establishing a law to create a Dairy and Food 
Commission. He championed honest food products, and thus 
came into violent conflict with the then fraudulent traffic in oleo- 
margarine, compelling it to sell on its own merits, and not under 
the name of butter. He sponsored the Bennett Law, requiring 
the teaching of English in all schools in Wisconsin. So violent 
an opposition was raised by the proponents of the German paro- 
chial school that he was defeated for re-election on this issue in 
1890. Governor Hoard's concept of American Citizenship was 
perhaps ahea<l of its time, but it contained the elements for 
which we have so recently fought. He was a delightful com- 
panion, and welcome to the friendship of the poorest workman, 
or the wealthiest capitalist; appreciated by both the ignorant and 
the most highly educated. He was intensely practical, and yet 
a voracious student of the rural sciences. He has been compared 
for his humor, his political honesty, his rugged character, and 
his many sided personality to Abraham Lincoln (75). His 
recognition of the specialized dairy cow as the foster mother of 
the human race made him, if not the originator, at least the 
world's greatest evangel, of the doctrine of specialized dairying. 
His favorite expression was "Treat the cow as a mother, and her 
calf as a baby." In 1915 Governor Hoard was officially honored 
by the state government as Wisconsin's most distinguished citizen. 



32 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

AN AMERICAN WHO INVADED SHROPSHIRE 

8. Probably the pioneer Shropshire breeder of the United 
States from a constructive standpoint was Dr, G. Howard Davison. 
His foundations for the Altamont flock at Millbrook, N. Y., were 
laid in the best blood to be secured in Britain during the 90's, 
his purchases being from the Tanner, Bowen-Jones and Minton 
flocks. American breeders of those days leaned very strongly 
toward a big-framed, slower maturing, open fleeced kind, but 
Dr. Davison from the start advocated a compact, thickly meated, 
early finishing type that would fit more strongly into the niceties 
of consumer demand. His first sheep were brought over in 1893 
under the care of his first shepherd, Herbert Fox. Ambitious 
to equal the productions of the Shrewsbury district, he sent to 
England the second year thereafter a flock of his own breeding 
for exhibition and competition at the English Royal. So suc- 
cessful did this mission prove that Dr. Davison was paid high 
tribute by the British agricultural journals of the day and was 
elected a member of the Royal Agricultural Society. In the same 
year, 1895, he secured Dan Taylor as shepherd, thereby bringing 
to America one of the master Shropshire fitters of the last quarter 
century. Two years later he secured Fred Fox and in 1898, 
Tom Bradburne, who remained with him for over twelve years. 
Tom possessed the genius for developing through his ovine arti- 
sanship what Dr. Davison sought in his capacity as breeder. The 
Altamont or Davison type became a distinct stamp in the show- 
yard, arousing violent arguments on more than one occasion. In 
season and out. Dr. Davison fought and fought for the short- 
legged, well-sprung type with thickness of back and plumpness 
of quarters. In his campaign he sent rams to nearly all of the 
agricultural colleges and experiment stations, to spread the 
knowledge of, and demand for, his sheep. If the college was 
unable to pay for them, as frequently happened, he gave them 
to the institution, thereby starting an acquaintance with his kind 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 33 

of sheep that ultimately has won the day in American Shropshire 
breeding circles. Altamont rams have had a profound efifect in 
unifying Shropshire standards and in coordinating types through- 
out all sections of the country. Rams tracing to Borough Magis- 
trate, British Yeoman, or other stock sires in his flock, had a 
pedigree value in addition to their individual merit, no matter 
to whom the sale might be. Dr. Davison believed thoroughly 
that the longer a flock was bred under the same conditions; that 
is, on the same farm, under the same management, fed by the 
same feeder, and bred according to the same system, the greater 
would be the resulting prepotence and uniformity. The lambs 
of his last show flocks traced back five generations on the sire's 
side and four on the dam's side to animals of his own breeding, 
and proved exceptionally strong breeders in other flocks. Alta- 
mont sheep were dispersed in 1911, and Dr. Davison has since 
been busied in other fields of agricultural activity. 

In 1892, he was elected a director of the Dutchess County Fair, 
New York, and thus opened a broad career in connection with 
agricultural exhibitions. During the years that the New York 
State Fair was held under the auspices of the State Agricultural 
Society, he was both a member of the Board and secretary and 
general manager of the show. The last position was held in 
1893, while the directorship lasted from 1893 to 1903. When 
the National Association of Exhibitors of Livestock was organized 
in 1894, he was elected its secretary, and the following year he 
was made president of the National Livestock Show at Madison 
Square Garden, New York. From 1898 to 1914 he was an execu- 
tive of the American National Livestock Association, while in 
1899 he became a member of the new association that guaranteed 
the International Livestock Exposition. He was made a member 
of the latter's executive committee and was its president for the 
shows of 1917 and 1918. In 1915 he was made a director of the 



34 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

National Horse Show Association of America and the following 
year a director of the Association of American Horse Shows Inc. 

Dr. Davison's permanence of agricultural endeavor is indi- 
cated by the variety of organizations for the promotion of live- 
stock and allied interests with which he has been identified. He 
holds life memberships in the New York State Agricultural 
Society, the American Hackney Horse Society, and the American 
Guernsey Cattle Club. For twelve years he was a member of the 
executive committee of the American Shropshire Registry Asso- 
ciation, and for three consecutive years was its president. When 
the American Dairy Shorthorn Association was organized in 1912, 
Dr. Davison was elected president and served in this capacity for 
a period of two years. He was a member of the executive com- 
mittee of the National Wool Growers' Association for eight years, 
and under Governor Levi P. Morton of New York, was a mem- 
ber of the Board of Control of the New York State Experiment 
Station at Geneva. 

This variety of positions furnished him art opportunity to form 
an acquaintanceship of national extent, which has caused him to 
drift rather naturally into the journalistic field. He has acted 
as president of the Advanced Agricultural Publishing Company 
which publishes The Field Illustrated; president of the American 
International Publishers Inc., which publishes El Campo Inter- 
national; and until February 1, 1918, president of the Agricul- 
tural Press Inc., which published the Agricultural Digest. In 
1916 he was made chairman of the Executive Committee of the 
National Agricultural Society, which backed the last named pub- 
lication. 

Dr. Davison was born with instincts that made him a lover of 
the soil and a connoisseur of its products. He graduated from 
Yale University in 1888 and received his bachelor's degree from 
Cornell in agriculture one year later. He thereupon entered a 
course at the American Veterinary College where he received his 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 35 

D. V. S. in 1890. His technical training, however, was designed 
to fit him for a livestock breeder rather than veterinary practice, 
as he had showed in his boyhood, even as early as the shows of 
1879, a tendency toward breeding mastery. His subjects at this 
time were guinea pigs, and he succeeded in developing squareness 
of quarters, and carriage of head and crest that made his pigs 
invincible at the pet stock shows. 

The extent and degree of service which Dr. Davison has ren- 
dered to American agriculture is difficult to estimate. An ardent 
sportsman, he has lent his influence at all times to the upbuilding 
and preservation of the sports of rural England, coaching, cours- 
ing and the chase. As superintendent of the sheep department 
of the International, he built up a strong organization that pos- 
sessed a character fully equivalent to the best of the mutton shows 
abroad. His example in doing permanent American breeding 
has served to guide a number of the best sheep breeders since, 
and so constructive have been their efforts that it has been 
possible for them to maintain the standards of their respective 
breeds even when sources of new blood have been denied them 
through foot-and-mouth quarantine or other handicap. 



36 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

PROPHET OF THE PRAIRIE PROVINCES 
9. Honorable Duncan McLean Marshall, Minister for Agri- 
culture in the province of Alberta, was born in a one-room log 
shanty in the township of Elderslie, Bruce Co., Ontario, Sept. 24, 
1873. His father, John Marshall, was one of the pioneers of the 
region. The public school on an adjoining farm provided his 
first education, but he was later sent to the Walkerton High 
School, and the Owen Sound Collegiate Institute. On Jan. 1, 
1890, he embarked on a career of public school teaching in his 
native township. The years preceding and following this period 
were ones of very great depression for Ontario farmers, and he, 
like a number of other farm boys, found teaching school a 
quicker way of earning a little cash than any other available. 
Nevertheless he was continuously engaged in farm work on Sat- 
urdays and holidays, devoting especial attention to the livestock 
of his father's farm. John Marshall had early entered into the 
cattle business, both as feeder and as drover, selling on the 
Buffalo and Toronto markets, hence it was natural that his son 
should display something of the same bent. At fourteen years 
he acquired his first interest in purebred Shorthorns, purchasing 
several on his own account. Hence when the lean years of 
farming arrived, Mr. Marshall never lost his determination to 
be a breeder of highest class livestock. 

During his term of service as a teacher he did organization 
work for a farmers' association and political party in eastern 
Canada known as the Patrons of Industry. He proved to be the 
most successful agent in spreading the influence of this farmers' 
movement throughout Ontario, although then but a youth of 
sixteen years. From this initial adventure in political campaign- 
ing up to the present, he has proved to be a powerful influence 
in Dominion affairs, and has received invitations to deliver poli- 
tical addresses both in Canada and the United States. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 37 

After a few years of teaching he moved to Toronto where he 
engaged in daily newspaper work, later acquiring farm paper 
interests. At one time he owned several weekly papers in Ontario, 
and became a sufificiently prominent figure to stand for Parlia- 
ment in one election, but was unsuccessful. In 1905 circum- 
stances seemed ripe for him to locate on a farm, an ambition he 
had cherished throughout the years, hence he removed with his 
family to Alberta. Unusual conditions prevented his immediate 
realization of his ideal, however, and for three years he acted as 
managing editor of the Edmonton Daily Bulletin. During this 
period he completed the purchase of a farm near Olds that is 
now his family home, and he built up on the raw prairie a most 
attractive homestead, with thoroughly modern improvements, an 
exceptionally strong her4 of Shorthorn cattle and a notable stud 
of Clydesdales. 

Four years after his arrival in Alberta he was offered the nomi- 
nation to the Alberta legislature for the constituency of Olds, but 
was no sooner elected than he was asked by the Prime Minister 
of the province to become Minister for Agriculture in his gov- 
ernment. This position he has held ever since, his work being 
of a most aggressive nature, both as regards the building up of 
the livestock industry and the spread of agricultural education. 
In the latter he has founded something entirely different from 
the conventional scheme of agricultural schools by establishing 
separate institutions at different points in the province, for the 
education of farmers' sons and daughters. These schools are 
capable of handling about 150 students, and the six thus far 
established have been a signal success. 

His work has surpassed that of any Minister of Agriculture in 
the Canadian provinces, John Dryden (14) only excepted. Dur- 
ing his term of office he has promoted the introduction of pure- 
bred sires to Alberta, and has formed a large number of coop- 
erative sire associations which have imported animals both from 



38 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

the United States and Great Britain. He has founded an exten- 
sive system of Farmers' Institutes and has organized district, 
township and county fairs that give eaich farm boy a chance to 
contest his skill as herdsman or shepherd against the other boys 
of his community. 

Mr. Marshall has very naturally occupied many positions in 
connection with livestock associations, among them a directorship 
in the Dominion Shorthorn Breeders' Association, and the presi- 
dency of the Western Canada Shorthorn Association. He has 
been a frequent visitor to the United States, attending and 
addressing livestock meetings and conventions over regions as 
dispersed as Portland, Oregon, and Columbus, Ohio. One of 
his greatest services has been to promote the settlement of western 
Canada agriculturally, and he has drawn freely on his acquain- 
tances throughout the eastern provinces and the States for this 
purpose. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 39 

CULTURIST AND AGRICULTURIST 

10. Honorable Henry Fairfax was a high type of cultured 
Virginian gentleman. He bore himself with a dignity of manner 
that was at all times democratic, and he deservedly became one 
of the most popular men of his county and state, as well as the 
leading proponent in America of that breed of horses he so ener- 
getically fathered. Born in Alexandria, Virginia, May 4, 1850, 
he had not sufiBcient age to participate in the internecine conflict 
which occurred during his teens. His family emigrated from 
England in 1767, locating first in Maryland, but after fourteen 
years of struggle removed to Virginia. In 1852, his father, CoL. 
John W. Fairfax, bought the famous estate in Loudoun county 
known as Oak Hill, long the residence of President James 
Monroe. Except for a few years when owned by Dr. Quinby, 
during the reconstructive period of the south, the estate has ever 
since been in the hands of the Fairfax family. In 1867, Mr. 
Fairfax entered the Virginia Military Institute where he gradu- 
ated in 1871. He thereupon entered his first work as chainman 
with an engineering party in Pennsylvania, and worked in New 
York, New Jersey, Colorado and Idaho. In 1879 he took railroad 
contracts in Tennessee and continued in such work until 1887, 
building a considerable portion of the Norfolk and Western, 
Shenandoah Valley, Ohio River and East Tennessee & North 
Carolina railroads. He was engineer in charge of Machinery 
Hall at the Centennial Exposition in 1876. 

In the early 80's, Mr. Fairfax maintained his office in Roanoke, 
Virginia, where he was elected to the town council, his first ven- 
ture in politics. From 1890 to 1900 he was a member of the 
state senate from Loudoun and Fauquier counties, and the follow- 
ing two years was a member of the state constitutional conven- 
tion, at which he was chairman of the Finance and Taxation 
Committee. From 1902 to 1905 he was a member of the Cor- 
poration Commission. His fitness for this latter position had 



40 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

been developed through his experience as a director of two 
national banks. 

Senator Fairfax had an inborn love of fine horses, and with 
his acquisition of Oak Hill in 1885 he entered extensively into 
the breeding and showing of Hackneys. His animals were taken 
into the prize ring of every large horse exhibition in America, 
and two of his best were practically undisputed champions of 
the Hackney breed. Mr. Fairfax was the first man in America 
deliberately and skillfully to breed for horses genuinely fitted in 
form and action for show arena and park or boulevard. His 
foundation stock was secured in the well-bred Kentucky and 
Virginia mares, while a thorough scouring of Europe for a sire 
led to his choice of the Hackney stallion. Matchless of Londes- 
boro. Throughout a series of years, his progeny, bred and fitted 
at Oak Hill for harness use brought an average at public and 
private sale of nearly $900. For many years eastern Hackney 
breeders sent their mares to the cover of Oak Hill stallions, and 
the care of mature and young stock from other studs formed a 
substantial part of the work on the 1,700-acre estate. 

Henry Fairfax was for many years president of the Hackney 
Breeders' Association of America, and at the time of his death, 
July 11, 1916, was president of the Virginia State Fair Associa- 
tion. His spiritual life was deep and wholesome, and for many 
years he was vestryman in the Protestant Episcopal Church of 
Aldie. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 41 

WHO'S WHO IN HOOSIERDOM 

11. Dean of the School of Agricuhure and Chief of Animal 
Husbandry in Purdue University is John Harrison Skinner. A 
native Indianan, he has been a notable factor in the upbuilding 
of the purebred livestock interests of the Hoosier state and in 
disseminating among its smaller breeders and farmers, first class 
animals for sires and matrons. He has set a notable example to 
them by his development of small herds of Shorthorns, Herefords 
and Aberdeen-Angus at the University Farm. From a limited 
investment in only two or three cows of each breed and a good 
bull, he has developed three International grand champion steers. 
The first of these, Fyvie Knight, the Aberdeen- Angus champion 
of 1908, was only fed at the farm, but Merry Monarch, Short- 
horn champion of 1917, and Fyvie Knight 2d, Aberdeen-Angus 
champion of 1918, were both bred and fed at Lafayette. 

Dean Skinner was born at Romney, Ind., March 10, 1874, and 
was reared on a farm. He attended the local district schools and 
in 1893 entered Purdue University, receiving his B. S. in 1897, 
and being an honor student and member of Sigma Xi. He served 
his full rural apprenticeship in the fields and among the herds 
and flocks of his father's farm, and for a period of two and one- 
half years after graduation busied himself as farm manager 
at home, sifting the chaff" from the wheat of his college learning. 

In 1899 he was assigned to duties as assistant agriculturist at 
the Purdue Station, but in 1901 was called to the University of 
Illinois as instructor in animal husbandry. The following year 
he returned to Purdue as associate professor of his subject and 
chief of his department. His professorship came in 1906 and 
one year later he was made dean of the School of Agriculture, 
which position he still holds. 

He was elected secretary of the Indiana Livestock Breeders' 
Association in 1905 and at later periods served in the same 
capacity for the Indiana Cattle Feeders' Association and the 



42 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Indiana Draft Horse Breeders' Association, both of which he 
ai4ed in organizing. He was a judge of sheep at the Louisiana 
Purchase Exposition in 1904 and of Rambouillets at the 1906 
and 1907 Internationals. At the latter show he also officiated in 
the Aberdeen-Angus rings. 

Under his deanship, the School of Agriculture has more than 
quadrupled in size, now having an attendance of well over 800. 
He has organized a poultry department, and has added numerous 
buildings to the school. As hea<l of his department he has 
directed a great burden of research into the question of silage 
for fattening cattle and sheep, and has done much to introduce 
silos to Indiana farms. 

Dean Skinner's efforts at agricultural improvement have been 
confined largely to his native state. His methods are unas- 
suming and his successes quiet, but he has builded a foundation 
in his herds and set a record in the showyard most difficult for 
other colleges to equal. His portrait is hung on the walls of the 
Saddle and Sirloin Club at the instance of hundreds of Purdue 
students, and was paid for by subscriptions among them. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 43 

THE PSALMIST OF HUSBANDRY 

12. The dean of American livestock journalists is Alvin 
Howard Sanders, editor of The Breeder's Gazette. To Mr. San- 
ders more than to any other man is due the literary standards 
which have been set up in agricultural publications, and the dig- 
nified development in a magazine of quality of the interests and 
ideals of the progressive livestock farmer. Bred in the atmos- 
phere of journalistic- service, Mr. Sanders has carried forward 
the great achievement of his father's life to realms of higher and 
more varied usefulness. He has taken upon his shoulders the 
burden of bridging the gap between the present generation of 
American husbandry and the preceding one. In the growing 
volumes of breed histories and biographical sketches of the live- 
stock masters, he has conferred a service rivalled only by the 
peerless Druid of last century England. 

Alvin H. Sanders was born Sept. 8, 1860, in Keokuk Co., 
Iowa. He was reared on the farm, but received his education 
in law at Northwestern University, graduating in 1881. Through- 
out his college years a desk was set aside for him in the office of 
the National Livestock Journal, where he began his apprentice- 
ship at a weekly wage of ten dollars. Here he checked the proofs 
of the many herd and sale catalogs printed by the Journal for 
the leading western Shorthorn breeders. Most painstaking efforts 
were necessary in order to prevent error in names or herd book 
numbers. By careful attention to the duties here bestowed upon 
him, Mr. Sanders acquired a voluminous information of the fash- 
ionableness or unfashionableness of pedigrees. The grind of 
such details naturally drove his preferences to the practice of 
law, and during the years before graduation his career as lawyer 
or newspaper man trembled in the balance. The straw that 
turned his footsteps forever to journalism came unexpectedly 
in 1881 with a failure on the part of the editor of the Journal to 
review the recently compiled catalog of the herd of Hon. William 



44 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

N. Smith, Lexington, III. Mr. Sanders came to the rescue in 
the pinch, and was so successful that his permanence as a live- 
stock writer was assured. With the launching of The Breeder s 
Gazette in December, 1881, Mr. Sanders took most active steps 
toward the upbuilding of the new undertaking. He personally 
made a trip to Colorado to secure for $1,500 the invaluable 
collection of old sale catalogs and herd documents belonging to 
George Rusk that gave almost the week to week story of Short- 
horn beginnings in America. In 1883 he was first charged with 
the entire responsibility of editing and publishing the paper, a 
position he has held unremittingly ever since. 

The national prestige of The Breeders Gazette has led Mr. 
Sanders into many public undertakings. He was one of the 
guarantors of the International Livestock Exposition and one 
of the founders of the Saddle and Sirloin Club. In 1900 he 
was a member of the United States Commission to the Paris 
Exposition, and under President Taft's administration was Vice 
Chairman of the U. S. Tariff Board, with personal attention to 
the wool tariff and the wool growing situation. For a number 
of years he was president and vice-president of the International 
Livestock Exposition and for his broad agricultural service was 
made a Chevalier of the Order of Leopold by the King of 
Belgium. 

Mr. Sanders' personal acquaintance and intimacy with the 
rapidly vanishing pioneers of the Booth and Bates tribes, and 
his hearty co-operation with the builders of the Scottish power, 
brought him in the closing years of the last century to prepare a 
"History of Shorthorn Cattle" which came off the press in 1900. 
For the next dozen years he was so occupied that he did not 
pursue his success there won. Following his release from the 
Tariff Board, however, he again took up his pen, and in 1914 
"The Story of the Herefords" was put forth by the Sanders 
Publishing Company. In 1915 "At the Sign of the Stock Yard 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 45 

Inn" told the tales in a broad sympathetic way of the beginning 
of this Club and the lives of many whose faces now adorn its 
walls. The following year his first book of sketches, "The Road 
to Dumbiedykes" appeared, and in 1917, in collaboration with 
Secretary Dinsmore of the Percheron Horse Society of America 
and John Ashton, a European staff correspondent to the Gazette, 
he produced a "History of the Percheron Horse." In 1918 his 
second volume of sketches, "The Black Swans" appeared while 
the following year his "Idle Hour Trilogy" was completed with 
"In Winter Quarters." 

In 1906 the University of Illinois conferred on him the Doc- 
torate of Agriculture, while Kenyon College, Ohio, in 1910 gave 
him an LL. D. The wealth of Mr. Sanders' service to agricul- 
ture is impossible to guage, one never can discover the multitude 
of breeders who have been inspired to better things by learning 
of the romances of the cattle and horses of a bygone day, and the 
ideals of the breeders who have builded so strongly for the future 
of husbandry. His knowledge of Shorthorn pedigree, his famili- 
arity with the early facts of breed history, and his fearlessness 
in denouncing various abuses in livestock breeding practice and 
pedigree fashions, have made him a commanding figure in the 
ranks of the lovers of the red, white and roan throughout the last 
quarter century. 



46 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A JOHN THE BAPTIST OF ALFALFA 
13. The introduction and widespread growth of alfalfa in the 
middle west and southwest gave new life to the gradually waning 
industry of the cattle range in the early nineties. The man behind 
this movement who is almost wholly responsible for the great 
success following the introduction of this plant is Foster Dwight 
CoBURN, for twenty-one years secretary of the Kansas State Board 
of Agriculture at Topeka. 

Mr. Coburn was born in Jefferson Co., Wisconsin, May 7, 1846, 
and grew to manhood on a Badger farm. Although only a boy 
in his teens he volunteered for service in the Union Army and 
served the last two years of the War. He was a corporal in 
Co. F, 135th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and upon reenlistment 
was made sergeant-major of the 62d Illinois Volunteer Infantry. 
In 1867 he settled in Franklin Co., Kansas where he secured 
employment as a farm laborer. In 1869 he married and began 
farming and improved stock raising for himself. 

In July, 1880, he was appointed assistant to Secretary J. K. 
Hudson in the ofl&ce of the State Board of Agriculture at Topeka, 
and on September 13, 1881, he was unanimously elected to succeed 
Mr. Hudson, who had resigned. On January 11, 1882, he was dis- 
placed on a technicality, and became president of the Indicator 
Publishing Co., and editor in chief of the Livestock Indicator 
of Kansas City. This position was retained until 1887, when 
he returned to his farming operations and acted as regent of the 
State Agricultural College, following appointment by Governor 
G. W. Click. In this capacity he was twice elected president of 
the State Boar4 of Regents. 

Mr. Coburn's early interests were with swine, and in 1877 he 
published a volume on swine husbandry which was particularly 
widely disseminated. In 1884 he was appointed sole judge of 
swine at the Cotton States Universal Exposition at New Orleans, 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 47 

while at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, he was sole 
judge of three breeds and a member of the judging committee 
of the other breeds. This experience was gathered together in 
1915 and published in a very comprehensive volume entitled 
"Swine in America." 

On January 12, 1894 he was again elected secretary of the 
Kansas State Board of Agriculture, to succeed Martin Mohler, 
and was reelected by acclamation each biennium thereafter until 
his resignation June 30, 1914, Under his direction the quarterly 
and biennial publications assumed a unique and forceful char- 
acter, since they dealt largely with the agricultural resources and 
possibilities of Kansas. Among his best known quarterly publi- 
cations were: "The Beef Steer and His Sister," "The Helpful 
Hen," "The Horse Useful," "Pork Production," "Cow Culture," 
"Modern Dairying," "The Modern Sheep," "Feeding Wheat to 
Farm Animals," "Shorthorn Cattle," "Hereford Cattle," "Polled 
Cattle," "Corn and the Sorghums," "Silos and Silage," and 
"Forage and Fodders." He actively promoted the introduction 
and extension of alfalfa and the cane and sorghum crops. While 
serving as secretary he became an editorial correspondent of the 
Kansas Farmer, the Mississippi Valley Farmer, and The Farmer's 
Mail and Breeze. In 1903 he published a book on alfalfa, and 
in 1910 another volume on the same subject entitled "The Book 
of Alfalfa." 

He was unanimously elected president of the first American 
Corn Congress held in Chicago in 1898 and was made chief of 
the department of livestock at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition 
of 1904 at St. Louis. This was the largest livestock show ever 
organized up to that time, but he unfortunately lacked the phy- 
sical strength to carry it through. He was obliged to resign 
before the show was in actual progress. In June 1909 he was 
given the honorary degree of Master of Arts by Baker University 
and on November 11th of the same year was accorded the degree 



48 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

of LL. D. by the Kansas Agricultural College. He was chairman 
of the Kansas State Dairy Commission in 1907-08 and was also 
chairman of the State Entomological Commission 1909-14. He 
was elected an honorary life member of the Kansas State Horti- 
cultural Society, the Kansas State Historical Society and the 
Kansas State Editorial Association. Mr. Coburn was tentatively 
offered the presidency of the Kansas, Hlinois an-d Oklahoma 
Agricultural Colleges. 

Political honors were not uncommon. He refused the nomi- 
nation as candidate for governor from the Republican Party in 
1898 at the Kansas City meeting of the State Editorial Associa- 
tion, but polled some eighty-odd votes at the state convention 
despite his refusal. He was appointed by Governor E. W. Hoch 
to fill the senatorial vacancy caused by the resignation of J. R. 
Burton in 1906, but declined to leave his agricultural post. He 
was considered by two different presidents for the national secre- 
taryship of agriculture, but blocked local booms tending to aid, 
him in such an undertaking. In 1908-09-10 he was a member of 
the joint Kansas-Oklahoma committee to investigate the Kansas 
penitentiary, being appointed by Governor Hoch and reap- 
pointed by Governor Stubbs. On Nov. 8, 1916, he was 
appointed by Gov. Capper a trustee of the "Industrial and Edu- 
cational Institute of Topeka" (colored), and one week later was 
made its presi<lent. Four times he was unanimously elected presi- 
dent of the Kansas State Temperance Union, and on declining 
reelection was made its treasurer. He was chairman of its execu- 
tive committee for ten years. In 1917 he was appointed by 
President Wilson a member of one of the two Exemption Appeal 
Boards for Kansas, and served as chairman until his resignation. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 49 

Following his resignation from the secretaryship of the State 
Board of Agriculture, Mr, Coburn entered into a number of 
financial undertakings. He was made vice-president of the Pru- 
dential Trust Co., of Topeka, a director of the Prudential State 
Bank, a director of the Bank of Topeka, and a director and vice- 
president of the Capitol Building and Loan Association of 
Topeka. He has been permanent treasurer of the funds raised by 
the state of Kansas for the relief of Indian famine sufferers, and 
prominent in a number of other charitable movements. 



50 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

MASTER MINISTER OF DOMINION AGRICULTURE 

14. One of the most aggressive and successful farmers known 
to the Dominion of Canada was the Hon. John Dryden, Minister 
of Agriculture for the Province of Ontario from 1890 to 1906. 
Mr. Dryden was Canadian-bred, but of English blood, his father, 
James Dryden, having come out from Sunderland, England, in 
1820. The taste for the soil that so permeates the inherent instincts 
of the Britisher led him to rural pursuits, and John Dryden was 
born, twenty years later, on the broad acres of Maple Shade in 
the well tilled region to the east of Toronto. 

Shorthorn cattle and Shropshire sheep were Mr. Dryden's first 
and permanent love. Even when the Duchess way was acknowl- 
edgedly the only way of fashionable breeding, the foundations of 
a Scotch herd were gathered at his farm, and the first importation 
of Shaw & Dryden included the famous Mimulus, dam of the 
Cruickshank (89) pride. Royal Duke of Gloster. Her calf in Mr. 
Dryden's hands was Barmpton Hero, for many years in the herd 
of the Messrs. Watt; a notable show bull and a creative breeder. 
More importations of the Cruickshank kinds were made in 1873, 
1880, 1882 and 1883. Many animals that played stellar roles in 
the Dominion or in the herds of Harris, Potts, or Kissinger across 
the border, came in these lots (Royal Barmpton, Violet Bud, 
Baron Surmise and Lord Glamis), but the climax came in 1887 
when Mr. Dryden purchased and brought across the entire herd 
of Edward Cruickshank, which contained some outcrosses sup- 
posed to reinvigorate the Sittyton blood. 

John Dryden was a particularly stablizing influence in the 
troubled days of the Bates decadence and the Scotch ascendancy. 
He sought ever to restrain speculation and to keep open the 
trade doors of Britain, Canada and the States to pedigreed stock. 
During his later years his duties as Minister of Agriculture 
restricted his operations with his own herd, but he found time 
to be president of the American Shropshire Registry Association 




HON. JOHN DRYDEN 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 51 

for many years, and director of the American Clydesdale Asso- 
ciation. For one term he also acted as head of the Dominion 
Shorthorn Breeders' Association. In 1906 he was selected by 
the British Government to act upon a Royal Commission 
appointed to investigate conditions of agriculture in Ireland. 
This was the first appointment ever made by the British Govern- 
ment of any one outside the British Isles to act as a Royal Com- 
missioner. In each capacity he was revered and trusted, his 
courtesy being unfailing, his intelligence keen and his mind open 
an4 progressive. His contribution to international cordiality 
was immeasurable and his death in 1909 untimely. His pet cause 
was the promotion and support of the Ontario Agricultural Col- 
lege at Guelph, his own farm being a model for its emulation. 
The wide influence of the Guelph men in the early teaching of 
animal husbandry in the United States was perhaps his best testi- 
monial south of the border line. 



52 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A VETERAN OF THREE CABINETS 

15. The awakening of agricultural interests and the establish- 
ment of a firm market for farm products, have been matters of 
accomplishment of the last quarter century. The definition of 
the phases of agriculture as an industry and the attacking of its 
problems in a thorough and scientific way have been functions 
of the United States Department of Agriculture. Although the 
Department's beginnings were merely a sop, thrown out by poli- 
ticians to their rural interests, the strong hand of the Honorable 
James Wilson, grasping the foundations laid by Secretary 
Rusk (18), shaped their development so as to yield firm federal 
support to the industries of the land. 

Secretary of Agriculture in the successive cabinets of Presi- 
dents McKiNLEY, Roosevelt and Taft, Mr. Wilson not only 
holds the record for length of service in a cabinet position, but 
also saw develop from a department of a few hundred employees, 
an institution whose workers run up into five figures. Secretary 
Wilson was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, August 16, 1835, and 
came to America at the age of sixteen. His parents first settled 
in Connecticut but afterward emigrated to Tama Co., Iowa, where 
he entered the public schools in 1855. His collegiate education 
was obtained at Iowa College, Grinnell. In 1851, he engaged in 
farming for himself, but being a man of broadest sympathies 
and inspired with the ideals of public duty, he was elected a 
member of the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth Iowa Assem- 
blies. He was Speaker of the last Assembly, and as such took 
so prominent an interest in educational matters that he was made 
Regent of the State University of Iowa during the years 1870 to 
1874. In 1873 he was elected to the forty-third Congress, a 
position he retained during the subsequent session. In 1877 he 
was made a member of the Iowa State Railway Commission, 
where he remained for six years until returned to Congress. 
Unfortunately his right was contested, but with the delays of 




SECRETARY JAMES WILSON 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 53 

law his contestant was not seated until the last hour of Congress. 
In 1890 he was appointed Director of the Agricultural Experiment 
Station and Professor of Agriculture at the Iowa Agricultural 
College at Ames, a position he retained until called upon March 
5, 1897, by President McKinley to take his place as spokesman 
for agriculture in the newly formed cabinet. 

"Tama Jim" as he was fondly called by his loyal Iowa sup- 
porters, recognized the need for a strong organization to unify 
and catalyze rural interests. Improved market conditions result- 
ing from the financial prosperity of the country furnished the 
farmer a degree of independence he had hitherto not known; 
hence, Secretary Wilson found willing material to support him 
in his efforts in placing agriculture on the permanent construc- 
tive basis it now enjoys. It was during this period of service 
that the multitudinous activities of the Bureau of Animal Industry 
developed. He sponsored particularly legislation and propa- 
ganda that would build up the agricultural export trade, and at 
the same time encouraged the search for new plants and animals 
suitable to the arid conditions that had to be met in the unorgan- 
ized land areas of the continent. President Roosevelt's con- 
servation policies received able support under his constructive 
genius and the national forest policy of America was firmly 
established. 

Rich in years, he retired from public duty with the change of 
administration in 1913. His headquarters were established at his 
early home at Traer, Iowa, where he participated in a number 
of notable movements aiming towards the dissemination of agri- 
cultural knowledge. So prominent were his services that numerous 
institutions conferred honorary degrees upon him. Both the 
University of Wisconsin and Cornell College, Iowa, gave him an 
LL. D. in 1904, while McGill University at Montreal, Canada, 
honored him with a similar title in 1909. His death occurred 
August 26, 1920. 



54 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

THE FOUNDER OF ARBOR DAY 

16. The second Secretary of Agriculture was J. Sterling Mor- 
ton, Nebraska City, Nebr. A practical farmer throughout the 
major portion of his life, he was a man of deep idealism and 
powerful instincts. His conception of "Arbor Day," which ulti- 
mately became a national institution, resulted in the beautifica- 
tion of thousands of rural and urban homes, and tens of thou- 
sands of flourishing groves where once only the woodless prairies 
spread. 

Secretary Morton was born April 22, 1832, in Adams, N. Y., 
from a line of paternal ancestors whose Americanization dated 
back to the "Little Ann," first ship to land after the Mayflower. 
When two years old, his parents emigrated to Monroe, Mich., at 
which place he received his common school education. In 1846 
he was sent to a Methodist seminary at Albion, Mich., to prepare 
for the state university, but while he spent most of his time at 
Ann Arbor, he ultimately received his degree at Union College 
in 1854. The following fall he married Caroline Joy French 
of Detroit and removed with her to Bellevue in the then territory 
of Nebraska. The situation did not prove successful, however, 
and after a few months he located near the site of what is now 
Nebraska City. He became a member of the town company, and 
took up a claim of a quarter section bordering on the townsite. 
Arbor Lodge, as the estate was called, was his home continuously 
thereafter. 

Mr. Morton was an original member of the Nebraska Terri- 
torial Board of Agriculture, and of the Territorial Horticultural 
Society. He was a charter member of the Nebraska State His- 
torical Society and at one time its president. In 1889 he was 
one of the American Commissioners to the Paris Exposition, 
and was always prominent in Nebraska political life. He was 
appointed secretary of the Nebraska Territory in 1858 and 
under the law became its acting governor on the resignation of 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 55 

Governor Richardson. Without solicitation on his part, he was 
four times made candidate for Governor of Nebraska on the 
Democratic ticket, missing the election as first governor of the 
state by only 145 votes. He was twice nominated for congress 
in a similar manner, and had sufficient supporters to make him 
an almost perpetual candidate for Senator. He was a member 
of the state legislature for many years and was extremely active 
in his opposition to the "wildcat" banks that contributed to so 
many Nebraska failures in early Cornhusker days. During the 
turbulent times of Populism, forty-five Republican state legis- 
lators, in caucus, declared their support for him in preference to 
any populistic candidate. But the nation had more immediate 
use for him, and he was appointed Secretary of Agriculture in 
the cabinet of President Cleveland in 1893. His service here 
met with some hostile criticism on the part of the agricultural 
interests, but anyone serving during those days of financial 
upheaval was bound to find much of his efforts negated and many 
of his accomplishments unpopular. He died from a stroke of 
apoplexy, April 27, 1902. 

Secretary Morton's love and devotion for his wife were con- 
spicuous. At the time of her death in 1881, he erected a granite 
shaft to her in the private burying ground on the home acres. 
Calling his sons together on its completion, he announced, "A 
spot for each of you is situated within the compass of the shadow 
of that shaft, but if one of you at any time dishonors the mother 
that lies here, his body must find other resting place." Fortu- 
nately his sons arose to almost equal position in the world, and 
Paul was not only Secretary of the Navy under President 
Roosevelt in 1904-05, but resigned to become president of the 
Equitable Life Assurance Society of New York City. Secretary 
Morton's statue by Randolph Evans stands in the public square 
of Nebraska City, a gift of the citizens of the state. 



56 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

HONORED CHIEFTAIN OF THE DAIRYMEN'S POWWOWS 

17. The story of raid-west civilization, of agricultural and 
industrial progress, would indeed be colorless if the contri- 
butions of the Wisconsin pioneers were forgotten. The primal 
position of the Badger state was established with the coming of 
the French fur traders, the natural waterway of the Great Lakes 
giving accessibility to the front rank fighters of a spreading 
American civilization. In Wisconsin the fusion of the ideals 
and principles of the French trader, the Indian aborigine, and the 
English settler, formed that virile impulse that has builded so 
eminent a position for this state. 

Exponent of the robust Badger virtues was Dr. Henry Baird 
Favill. Dr. Favill was born in Madison, August 14, 1860, 
descended on his father's side from John Favill, who came to 
America from Britain a few years prior to the Revolution, and 
who fought strenuously for the new republic during its period of 
struggle for independence. Following the peace settlement, John 
Favill established in Herkimer Co., New York, and his descend- 
ents became part and parcel of that notable band who proceeded 
across the lakes to build up the rising civilization of Wisconsin. 
Through his mother, Louise Sophia Baird, he inherited the up- 
right, robust physique of an Indian ancestor, the great-great- 
grandmother of his mother. This maternal forebear was a daugh- 
ter of the Ottawa chieftain Kewinoquot (Returning Cloud), and 
was educated in white civilization through the good offices of the 
early French missionairies. Dr. Favill's father was a physician, 
a graduate of Harvard University, a member of the first State 
Board of Health, and President of the Wisconsin State Medical 
Society. 

Dr. Favill's educational life was thorough. After graduating 
from the Madison Public Schools, he entered the University of 
Wisconsin where he received his A. B. degree in 1880. He then 
proceeded to Rush Medical College where he received his M. D. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 57 

in 1883. While a student he served his interneship in the Cook 
County Hospital and upon graduation returned to Madison to 
enter practice in association with his father. In 1894 he accepted 
simultaneous calls to the Chair of Medicine at the Chicago Poly- 
clinic, and the adjunct professorship of Medicine at Rush. His 
private practice grew to be the largest in the city. In 1898 he was 
appointed Ingalls Professor of Preventive Medicine and Thera- 
peutics at Rush and eight years later was made professor of 
Clinical Medicine. He became consultant and attending physician 
at several hospitals and at the time of his death was President 
of the Medical Board of St. Luke's. For several years he was 
president of the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute and because of 
his keen technical ability, ranked among the foremost physicians 
of the country. Dr. Favill was a big thinker and an astute 
reasoner, and he found time to devote himself enthusiastically 
to problems of civic and political purity. From 1907 to 1910 he 
was president of the Municipal Voters' League, an organization 
strongly and fearlessly opposing corrupt politics. He was presi- 
dent of the City Club of Chicago from 1910 to 1912, having been 
a director since 1905. For many years he was trustee of the 
Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency, and a director of the United 
Charities. His membership in the professional societies of medi- 
cine embraced all the leading organizations and he was the only 
man without commercial connections ever elected to the Chicago 
Commercial Club. In 1908 he dignified the new Medical Reserve 
Corps movement in the U. S. Army by accepting a commission 
as First Lieutenant. In 1915 the University of Wisconsin con- 
ferred on him the degree of LL.D. 

In 1908 Dr. Favill extended his interests to agriculture, and 
gave freely of his tireless energy to the upbuilding of Holstein- 
Friesian cattle and the dairy industry. Until his death, most of 
his spare time was devoted to the improvement of his dairy farm, 
Milford Meadows, at Lake Mills, Wis. His professional train- 



58 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

ing enabled him to apply new ideas to his agricultural and 
breeding problems, and led to the preparation of numerous 
articles and lectures on subjects of economic importance. He was 
elected vice-president of the Holstein-Friesian Association of 
America and was first president of the National Dairy Council. 
During the meeting of this Council at Springfield, Mass., in 1916 
he contracted pneumonia, and passed away February 20. 

At his funeral Dr. F. W. Gunsaulus, his warm personal friend, 
said, "The personality of Dr. Favill exalted the work and 
achievements of the physician as well as the practical reformer 
in the city of Chicago. No man more sanely or nobly incarnated 
the ideals which are higher than any calling and as great as any 
enthusiasm." The Chicago Evening Post said, "Dr. Favill was 
a man who held in a city of over two million inhabitants the posi- 
tion of love, dignity and influence held by many a lesser known 
'country doctor' in the villages of America." 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 59 

FIRST IN THE PORTFOLIO OF AGRICULTURE 

18. In the village cemetery of Viroqua, Wisconsin, sleeps 
General Jeremiah McLain Rusk, first Secretary of Agriculture 
and former Governor of Wisconsin. Secretary Rusk's death 
was as widely lamented and drew as notable a circle of promi- 
nent citizens to pay homage as has been the lot of any public 
servant of recent years. Chief among the mourners was Ex-Presi- 
dent Benjamin Harrison, under whose administration Secre- 
tary Rusk had been given charge of agriculture. To other 
friends, President Harrison is quoted as having said, "Secre- 
tary Rusk was perhaps the least educated of the members of my 
cabinet, but he possessed the shrewdest native judgment. He 
could not prepare a state paper, but he was the keenest and best 
informed critic of such a paper, once prepared, that I could 
secure." 

Jeremiah M. Rusk was of Scotch-Irish descent. His grandfather 
James Rusk, was born near Londonderry in the north of Ireland, 
and fled to America after knocking down the insulting agent of 
his absent landlord. His father was born and brought up near 
Pittsburgh but moved to Deerfield, Morgan Co., Ohio, shortly 
after the war of 1812. It was here on June 17, 1830 that Jere- 
miah was born, the youngest of eleven children. His schooling 
was most limited and at sixteen years of age, due to his father's 
death, he became the sole reliance of his mother. Already he 
was a practical and skilled farmer, marketing his produce con- 
sisting of a variety of wheat, grains, vegetables, apples, cider, 
peaches, feathers, eggs, butter and hops at Zanesville, some 
twenty miles away. The young man was a giant in strength, a 
powerful wrestler and a fine horseman. It is related that he was 
the champion cradler of his entire countryside. As a very young 
man he was employed to drive the four horse stage coach between 
Zanesville and Newark on the national turnpike, a distance of 
thirty miles. At this time he became acquainted with James A. 



60 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Garfield, then driving a canal mule. After his stage-coaching 
days he was employed for a short period as a foreman of graders 
on the Zanesville and Wilmington railroad, later the Muskingum 
Valley. About 1852 he became a cooper, making large numbers 
of barrels in the old log house on his mother's farm, these barrels 
being sold to the salt industry then conducted along the Muskin- 
gum. In 1853 with his wife and two children, he migrated to 
Viroqua, Wis., where there were numerous settlers from Morgan 
and Perry counties, Ohio. Here he became a tavern keeper, a 
thresherman, and stage driver, owning the line between Prairie 
du Chien and Black River Falls. In 1855 he was elected sheriff, 
in 1857 coroner, and in 1861 a member of the state assembly. 

In 1862 he recruited the 25th Wisconsin infantry and was com- 
missioned as its Major, later becoming Lieutenant Colonel. He 
participated in the siege of Vicksburg, June 7th to July 4th, 1863, 
and in fourteen major actions thereafter, the 25th Regiment being 
a part of General Sherman's army. After dismissal from the 
service he was brevetted a Brigadier General for conspicuous 
gallantry in crossing the Salkehatchie River, South Carolina, in 
February, 1865. His regiment participated in the review of 
Sherman's army. May 24, 1865, at Washington, was mustered out 
June 7th, and disbanded at Madison, June 11th. The mortality 
record of the 25th was the largest of any Wisconsin regiment, 
and much of its conspicuous gallantry was due to the dash and 
zealous activity of CoL. RuSK. . In 1865 he was elected State Bank 
Comptroller, an office to which he was re-elected in 1867. In 
1870 he was elected to Congress and served for a period of seven 
years. He then returned to his farm, organizing a bank and pro- 
curing the extension of a railway from Sparta to Viroqua. While 
in Congress, Senator Rusk was a member of the committee on 
agriculture and at the Republican national convention of 1880 he 
was largely instrumental in causing the break that nominated 
Garfield for president. Later he was ofifered several missions by 




SECRETARY JEREMIAH RUSK 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 61 

President Garfield, but he declined in order to be elected Gov- 
ernor of Wisconsin in 1880. He was twice re-elected, serving 
seven years in all. In 1886 he took the firm stand that quelled 
the Milwaukee riot by ordering the militia to "fire on the mob." 
A single volley "blew the backbone out of anarchy" teaching a 
permanent lesson to the Wisconsin "reds." In other states the 
situation was not handled so successfully, and that very night, 
May 4, 1886, dozens of Chicago police lay stiffening, or writhing 
in gore, victims of the bomb throwers of Haymarket. On the 
strength of this record he was at once renominated for Governor, 
and re-elected without competition. He declined a fourth term. 

In 1888 Governor Rusk was Wisconsin's candidate for repub- 
lican presidential nomination, and early the next year was ap- 
pointed by President Harrison to the newly created Secretary- 
ship of Agriculture. Secretary Rusk at once recognized the 
myriad services that could be performed in marketing America's 
surplus crops, and immediately set about extending the disposal 
channels for the great staple crops and the vast animal products. 
He made strenuous efforts to secure the substitution of home grown 
for imported products and to bring the department into close rela- 
tionship with the farmers. The beginnings of the control of con- 
tagious disease among cattle were laid under his oversight, thus 
permitting the markets of the world to be opened to our meat 
products. He established propaganda for the introduction of 
Indian corn to Europe as a cheap and economical food substitute 
for the other cereals. He succeeded in placing sugar production 
upon a stronger foundation, promoted irrigation in the arid west, 
and sponsored laws to check the ravages of insect enemies to 
plant and animal life. During his administration the well-known 
special reports on "Diseases of Cattle" and "Diseases of the 
Horse" were first published. 

On March 8, 1893, he returned to his beautiful four hundred 
acre farm at Viroqua, after a public life of more than thirty 



62 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

years. The following fall, however, he contracted malaria while 
inspecting land in the Kankakee Valley of Illinois; complications 
ensued and on November 21st, while apparently improving from 
an operation, he suddenly passed away. General Rusk was one 
of the strongest and most characteristic figures in the political 
and agricultural life of America, during the reconstruction period 
following the Civil War. He was an unswerving servant of the 
public weal, and having set his hand to the plow, never deviated 
until the end of the furrow was reached. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 63 

FATHER OF THE FARMERS' SHORT COURSE 

19. Few of the earliest statesmen of American history have 
recognized the constructive possibilities of agricultural education 
and the dissemination of agricultural information. Fewer still 
have there been whose keenness of vision and clarity of foresight 
have made it possible to crystallize the need of the industry into 
constructive and beneficent laws. Of this pioneer coterie was 
Senator William Freeman Vilas. 

Born in Chelsea, Vermont, July, 1840, he gained the instinct of 
public service from his father, the HoN. Levi B. Vilas. In June, 
1851, the family settled at Madison, Wis., and at eighteen years of 
age, the future statesman was graduated from the University of 
Wisconsin. Two years later he finished at the Albany (New 
York) Law School, and established himself in practice at Madi- 
son. The Civil War interrupted his efforts as a barrister and in 
July, 1862, he recruited Company A of the 23rd Wisconsin Volun- 
teers, proceeding into the season's campaign as its Captain. Pro- 
moted to Lieutenant Colonel, he commanded his regiment during 
the siege of Vicksburg, after which he resigned from the army 
and returned to his practice. He was a Regent and Law Professor 
of the University of Wisconsin, and in this position instituted the 
first winter course in agriculture for farmer's sons held in the 
United States, contributing his idea to Dean Henry (20), and 
was later a member of a commission to revise the Wisconsin 
Statutes, during which time he gained his first insight into the 
need of constructive agricultural legislation for the state. 

In 1878, his political career proper began. For eight years 
he was a member of the Democratic National Committee, being 
made permanent chairman at the National Democratic Convention 
in 1884. In 1885 he was elected to the Wisconsin Legislature, and 
after President Cleveland's inauguration was made successively 
Postmaster General and Secretary of the Interior. In the latter 
capacity he introduced some reforms in the occupancy of Govern- 



64 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

ment lands and in improved conditions for the Indians that again 
betokened his agricuhural vision. From 1891 to 1897 he was 
United States Senator and head of the committee that built the 
present Congressional Library. He was at the same time member 
of the commission which built the Wisconsin State Historical 
Library, and was responsible for the efforts which brought to this 
institution the interesting first documents of Wisconsin's agricul- 
tural history. Of sound conservative ideas, he was chairman of 
the committee on resolutions at the National Democratic (Gold 
Standard) Convention at Indianapolis in 1896. He was a mem- 
ber in 1906 of the Commission empowered to build the new Wis- 
consin capital, the artistic triumph of American state houses. 
This duty was foremost in his interests until his death at Madison, 
August 27, 1908. 

Senator Vilas was possessed of a keen patriotic sense and for 
years was a member of the Society of the Army of Tennessee. 
Numerous of his addresses bearing on the issues, outcome and 
rewards of the Civil War, were delivered by him during the cru- 
cial political period of the two decades following the war. To 
his advanced ideas arid energetic efforts much of the prominent 
agricultural position of Wisconsin is at present due. Everything 
that Senator Vilas did he did well. His words were as carefully 
chosen in ordinary conversation as they were when he spoke to 
tens of thousands. He was one of the earliest advocates of special 
education for rural citizenship, and by his legislative foresight, 
laid the foundation of the rural coherence found in his state today. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 65 

DEAN OF THE DEANS 

20. The Nineteenth Century developed a new type of service in 
agriculture. Hitherto the steps in progress could be catalogued 
as a breeder presented to a voracious world his triumphs of arti- 
sanship, or as a horticulturist or crop grower put forth the pro- 
ducts of his soil. The latter half of the century just closed made 
the need for organization and dissemination of agricultural infor- 
mation more an<i more apparent, and the arrival of agricultural 
colleges almost simultaneously with the financial independence of 
the American farmer, raised up the profession of agricultural 
evangel in the land. Dean of the patriarchs of rural progress is 
William Arnon Henry of the University of Wisconsin. 

Dean Henry was born at Norwalk, Huron Co., Ohio, June 16, 
1850. His early life was spent in the country and he received 
his first collegiate training in the Ohio Wesleyan University. The 
next five years he acted as principal of the high schools of New 
Haven, Indiana, and Boulder, Colorado. At twenty-six years of 
age he entered Cornell University, graduating in 1880 with the 
degree of Bachelor of Agriculture. During his last two years in 
college he became particularly interested in botany, and held a 
slightly compensative position as student instructor in that de- 
partment. Upon graduation he was elected professor of Botany 
and Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin. His first class- 
room and office consisted of one room in a dwelling house on 
University Farm. For the next few years he conducted extensive 
research on the ensiling of corn and amber cane. In 1883-85 he 
secured the services of John Gould of Ohio to do institute work 
on silage, and to this one influence can be traced Wisconsin's 
leadership in the use of ensilage today. So pertinent was his 
work that in 1883 Governor Rusk recommended that an Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station be created under W. A. Henry's 
direction. With the adoption of this plan Dean Henry became 
professor of Agriculture, and in 1885 at the suggestion of Sena- 



66 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

TOR Vilas (19) he conducted the first short course with an 
attendance of nineteen students. In 1887 he was officially chris- 
tened director of the Wisconsin Experiment Station, and three 
years later he opened Wisconsin's first dairy course for two 
students. In 1891 he was appointed Dean of the College of Agri- 
culture, and during the same year made his first contribution to 
the subject on which he later became America's foremost author- 
ity, "The Feeding of Cattle." This brochure appeared as Part II 
of Secretary Rusk's treatise on "Diseases of Cattle and Cattle 
Feeding." In February, 1898, the first edition of his masterpiece, 
"Feeds and Feeding," was published. It consisted of 670 pages 
and has thus far passed through nine editions with a total of thirty 
thousand copies. 

Dean Henry gathered under his leadership the greatest agri- 
cultural faculty assembled by the early institutions. Practically 
everyone of them became a national leader in his subject, Bab- 
COCK (23) in dairy chemistry and physics, Russell in bacteriol- 
ogy, King in soils, Craig (24) in animal- husbandry, Waugh in 
horticulture, Farrington in dairy manufactures. Hart and Mc- 
Collom in nutrition, Moore in agronomy, Jones in plant dis- 
eases and Taylor in agricultural economics. His greatest pride 
lay in this faculty and to it he attributed the success he enjoyed. 

In 1902 he was chosen special lecturer on agriculture and 
animal nutrition at the Summer School of the University of Cali- 
fornia. So appreciative were his Pacific coast students that this 
University conferred on him the honorary Degree of Doctor of 
Agriculture in 1904. In July of the same year the University of 
Vermont honored him with the doctorate of science. The modern 
farmer's course was established under his direction at the Wiscon- 
sin College of Agriculture that winter with an initial attendance of 
175. In May, 1907, the Michigan Agricultural College granted 
him the degree of Doctor of Science and at the close of the fiscal 
year he resigned his college position, being made emeritus profes- 




DEAN W. A. HENRY 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 67 

sor of agriculture. In September, 1909, he was given a Carnegie 
pension. 

His later years have been spent on his son's farm in Connecti- 
cut, or at Sarasota, Florida. His devotion to the tiller of the soil, 
his progressive viewpoint, his broad appreciation of all agricul- 
ture, and his boundless enthusiasm make him a permanent figure 
in the upbuilding of rural Wisconsin and the standardizing of 
feeding methods in this country. Dean Henry played a most 
prominent part in securing the parcel post law, and as a staff 
correspondent of The Breeder's Gazette and Hoard's Dairyman, 
contributed largely to the solution of the farm problems of the 
middle west. On accoiint of his achievements and success among 
college men he has popularly been styled the "Dean of the 
Deans." 



68 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

THE PROPHET OF A NATION'S HUSBANDRY 

21. The pioneer in the general field of livestock journalism was 
James Harvey Sanders, a banker and railway contractor of 
southeastern Iowa. Mr. Sanders was born in Ohio in the Scioto 
Valley, his parents being native Virginians. In 1868 he had 
attained sufficient financial independence to indulge an inherent 
fondness for improved livestock, and he secured at a good price 
a seven-eighths Percheron horse named Victor Hugo, in Central 
Ohio. This horse was shipped to Iowa and was the second animal 
of heavy type to be brought into the state. Mr. Sanders followed 
him with the imported horse Dieppe, and, the American-bred Dili- 
gence, both of Dillon ownership, the former stallion bringing 
$3,000 and the latter $2,500. At the same time he introduced a 
high type of Clydesdale, the $5,000 stallion, Donald Dinnie. 

The extension of good breeding stock throughout the Missis- 
sippi Valley states suggested to Mr. Sanders the publication of a 
periodical to be devoted to the interests of blooded stock. Chris- 
tened the ^^ Western Stock Journal," and printed on a hand power 
press with its pages, stitched together by the members of the 
editor's family, it received instant approval in Iowa and the neigh- 
boring states, and was the first purely livestock periodical ever 
issued in the world. About this time Mr. Sanders purchased the 
first purebred Shorthorn to be introduced into this country. One 
more step in the building of a local agriculture remained for him 
to take, and in the late 60's he brought out from Ohio one of 
the early Poland-Chinas of Magie breeding. Following this he 
bought a pair of Essex which were unsuccessful, and then some 
heavy boned Cheshires. 

The panic of 1873 spread ruin in J. H. Sanders' path. The 
railroad in which he was interested was wrecked, and the accumu- 
lations of some twenty years entirely absorbed. Hence when 
George W. Rust and John P. Reynolds of Chicago called Mr. 
Sanders to the monthly "National Livestock Journal," a con- 




J. H. SANDERS 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 69 

solidation with his own paper was effected, and he became asso- 
ciate editor. During all these years, Mr. Sanders cherished a 
partially gratified taste for the American trotter, and after some 
excellent reports on grand circuit races, was offered the editor- 
ship of Mr. George Wilkes' "Spirit of the Times." The Iowa 
home was given up and, the livestock sold, the family removing 
to New York. A straight salary proposition failed to interest 
Mr. Sanders, however, and after twelve months he acquired a 
financial interest in the National Livestock Journal and became 
managing editor. 

In the years just prior to 1880 there was a rapid distribution 
of improved blood throughout the central states, and nearly 
all of the breeds formed associations for their own promotion 
and the registration of their animals. Mr. Sanders was par- 
ticularly active in advice and cooperation in such organizations 
an4 himself prepared the initial volume of records of the French 
draft horse, then called the Norman. He was one of the first 
to point out the absurdity of this name and succeeded ultimately 
in getting the name of Percheron adopted. 

In 1881 Mr. Sanders' influence and circle of friends had 
broadened to a sufficient extent to make it possible for him to 
embark in a weekly livestock journal of his own. He had been 
president of the Chicago Fair Association which held, great live-* 
stock shows in Garfield Park in 1880 and 1881, was also presi- 
dent of the Chicago Jockey and Trotting Club, and was secretary 
of the American Trotting and Pacing Horse Breeders' Associa- 
tion. Building on these relationships, he established in the fall 
of 1881, The Breeder's Gazette, financed largely by the pioneer 
farm implement maker, Jerome I. Case, of Racine, Wisconsin. 
After some severe financial struggles, the future of the paper 
was assured and it has grown in scope and influence until at the 
present day it numbers a permanent circulation of approximately 
95,000. The succeeding year, Mr. Sanders, in company with 



70 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Dr. James Law (122) and the Secretary of the Treasury, was 
made a member of the commission authorized by Congress to 
locate lands adjacent to certain Atlantic seaports, suitable for 
quarantine stations for the detention of imported cattle. In 1883 
he went abroad to examine horse breeding in France, and there 
assisted in the organization and foundation of the stud book for 
the breed in its native district. He also was specially commis- 
sioned on this trip by the Secretary of Agriculture to report on 
certain European conditions surrounding the American export 
trade of live cattle and meats. In addition to his journalistic 
duties, Mr. Sanders found time in 1885 to write a book on 
"Horse Breeding" that had widespread usage as a college text 
in the latter part of the last century, as well as having a big sale 
among breeders. In 1888 he published a companion book on 
"Breeds of Livestock." His death Dec. 22, 1899, was peculiarly 
untimely, as his reward from American agriculture was by no 
means complete. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 71 

A WIZARD OF WOOL 

22. Possibly as wide an acquaintance as was ever enjoyed 
among the sheepmen of America was held by Robert B, 
Thomson. Mr. Thomson was a man untrained in husbandry 
and previous to 1905 was unheard of in the wool trade. Never- 
theless, in the last years of his life he became one of the most 
widely quoted authorities on wool market conditions and his 
amiable spirit won him hundreds of friends, both in the east 
and west. Mr. Thomson was charged with the organization of 
the National Wool Warehouse and Storage Co., and in spite of 
intrigue, conspiracy and other troubles carried it to a successful 
realization. When the undertaking was first launched, many 
severe and unjust criticisms were made by the short-sighted and 
partisan men who had been attempting to back the wool industry 
previously, but nothing of criticism was directed toward the per- 
sonality that efifected the organization. 

Robert Boyd Thomson was bom in Chicago, April 21, 1869, 
of Scottish descent. At the close of his school training he 
entered the employ of the Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., 
remaining with them until his death. In 1889 he took up his 
residence in Morgan Park, and was actively identified with its 
development. He was one of the founders of the Morgan Park 
Presbyterian Church and became an elder in it at the age of 21. 
For many years he was a trustee of the Village Board and acted 
as trustee of the Morgan Park Academy during the troublous 
period of its financing. Mr. Thomson was a stockyards man 
to the core, and was intimately concerned in its growth and 
development. During his later years he acted as treasurer of 
the Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., and of the Chicago Junction 
Railway Co. He was one of the organizers and first president 
of the Calumet Trust & Savings Bank in 1904, but resigned later 
when the burdens of the Wool Warehouse began to absorb his 
time. 



72 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

When the Stock Yard Company first took up the cooperative en- 
terprise with the wool growers of the west, Mr, Thomson was 
selected by Messrs. Spoor and Leonard to represent their inter- 
ests. The obstacles at first appeared insurmountable, and at 
times the lack of support and cooperation would have troubled 
the soul of many with more sturdy frames, but Mr. Thomson 
never faltered, and continually pushed forward the plans for 
the wool growers' cooperative movement. The opening cam- 
paign of the winter of 1908-1909 was directed toward marketing 
the western wool clip to better advantage for the producer. At 
that time no other agricultural product had been sent to the 
manufacturer under more adverse conditions. The gap between 
the producer of wool and the mill men was so wide that the 
average shepherd had no idea many of his practices such as 
tying his fleeces with binder twine and overproducing fleeces of 
the blanket and carpet type, were matters objectionable to the 
mill owner. Largely through the efiforts of Mr. Thomson in 
his position as secretary of the new organization this gap was 
bridged. He conceived and carried out the educational schemes 
of the movement, personally preparing a series of unique 
pamphlets and circulars which told the sheep men of the per- 
manent injury done by breeding from animals with black fleece, 
or using insoluble paints, sisal twine and indiscriminate pack- 
ing. Wool samples were sent by him to flock owners, giving 
information on market grades and illustrating the eff"ect of qual- 
ity and length of fiber on fleece values. Market letters were 
issued at intervals indicating the trend of prices and a wool 
exhibit full of helpful points for the shipper was prepared for 
exhibition at the International, at Wool Growers' Conventions 
and other meetings. When the preliminary educational work 
was over and the market and, trade terms well understood, he 
began the fight for cooperative warehouses. These were strongly 
opposed by the wool trade, but his spirit never quailed, and his 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 73 

calmly temperate, yet firm, attitude won the respect and admira- 
tion of both friends and opponents. His organization and 
inspiration finally made the warehouse an established fact. From 
this vantage point it was easy to initiate the grading of fleeces 
at the cooperative warehouses and the big shearing plants. When 
the organization was firmly established he resigned as secretary 
and became vice president and treasurer of the association. 

For many years Mr. Thomson was a sufferer from heart 
trouble and the strenuous years of the wool organizing sapped 
his vitality tremendously. The night of July 13, 1916, he peace- 
fully passed away as he slept, occasioning an almost irreparable 
loss to the industry he had so well served. No one with the fine- 
ness of nature and clearly conceived duties that so dominated 
Mr. Thomson's life, could fail to accomplish his earthly mis- 
sion, and his business associates and personal circle of friends 
felt keenly their deprivation of the sustaining power of his rare 
and warm friendship. 



74 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

DOCTOR OF DAIRYING 

23. Stephen Moulton Babcock was born at Bridgewater, 
New York, in 1842. His education was of a type to prepare him 
for permanent research in scientific subjects. In 1866 he 
received his A. B. from Tufts College. From 1872 to 1875 he 
attended Cornell University, following which he became an 
instructor in chemistry at this institution. In 1877 he was 
granted a leave of absence to study chemistry abroad and in 
1879 the <legree of Doctor of Philosophy was conferred on him 
by the University of Goettingen. He returned to Cornell but in 
1882 became chemist at the New York Experiment Station at 
Geneva, there initiating the series of scientific discoveries which 
have done so much toward the upbuilding of the dairy industry. 
Here he invented an apparatus for determining the viscosity of 
liquids, and in 1883 worked out a gravimetric method of ana- 
lyzing milk which is still in use. In 1885 he perfected a simple 
method for .determining the size and number of fat globules 
in milk, and as a result of his achievements, in 1888 received 
a call to the chemistry department of the Experiment Station at 
the University of Wisconsin. Immediately upon his arrival in 
Madison he began to work on a method for the determination 
of the percentage of butter fat in milk, and in July, 1890, in 
collaboration with Dean Henry (20) he published the first 
bulletin announcing the discovery of the centrifugal test for 
butter fat. So unusual were the demands for this bulletin, that 
60,000 copies were distributed through the Wisconsin Experi- 
ment Station alone. The news of the discovery travelled to all 
parts of the world, and since Dr. Babcock refused to patent it 
for his own personal gain, its benefits have spread everywhere. 

While the Babcock Test was undoubtedly his greatest contri- 
bution to the dairy industry, his research work on dairy products 
was by no means terminated. In 1895 he established a method 
by which casein can be mechanically separated from the other 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 75 

constituents of milk, thereby originating a mathematical form- 
ula permitting the computation of the yield of cheese from a 
given lot of milk. In 1896 as an associate of Dr. H. L. Russell, 
he established the cause of the lessened consistency of pasteur- 
ized milk, and in 1897 discovered the ferment galactase which 
causes newly made cheese to break down to a digestible condi- 
tion. Hitherto this had been believed to be due to bacteria. 
Soon after this the Wisconsin Curd Test, an ingenious method 
to detect tainted milk at creameries an4 cheese factories, was 
annnounced by Babcock, Russell and Decker. In June, 1900j 
he was appointed professor of agricultural chemistry, assistant 
director, and chief chemist at the Experiment Station. During 
the same year he received the honorary Degree of LL. D. at 
Tufts College. Australian and New Zealand dairymen presented 
him during this year with an oil painting and a beautifully illus- 
trated album of their countries, in recognition of his most impor- 
tant 4iscoveries. Although he was no exhibitor, he was awarded 
the grand prize of honor at the Paris Exposition. On March 
27th, 1901, the legislature of Wisconsin before an assembly of 
state officials, presented him with a large golden bronze medal 
in recognition of his contribution to dairy progress. In 1913 
he was made professor emeritus and retired from his most active 
work. 

In spite of the fundamental nature of Dr. Babcock's contribu- 
tion he is a man of broadest humanities. Each young investi- 
gator at Madison has only to call to get the benefit of his 
seasoned advice and his original viewpoints. For the solving of 
physical difficulties in investigation Dr. Babcock is undoubt- 
edly the most ingenious and self reliant man Wisconsin has ever 



76 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

had. He is an ardent lover of sport and a constant attendant 
at baseball, basketball and football games. At one time he was 
the guest of the Union Stock Yards in Chicago. The forenoon 
was spent in an inspection of the plant, and on the parting at 
noon, Mr. Leonard (64) told Dr. Babcock that he had arranged 
for an extensive automobile trip through the park and boulevard 
system of Chicago for the afternoon. His surprise was unfeigned 
when Dr. Babcock replied, "If you don't mind, I believe I shall 
go out to see the White Sox." 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 77 

THE STOCKMAN'S SCHOOLMASTER 

24. "A gentle soul full of modest stillness and humility, with 
a vision and taste of the wonder, beauty and meaning of life, 
may not pass this way without leaving indelible tracks, even in 

the shifting sands And so the life of PROFESSOR Craig 

may move to its appreciation the pens and lips and hearts of 

many folk who did not know the man When he was 

returned to Mother Earth it was too late for him to see the monu- 
ments that hundreds of unknown friends had erected in their 
own hearts to his patient, suffering, simple life." Thus DeWitt 
C. Wing paid tribute to a man who was as sincerely mourned in 
his death as any who had ever donated his life to agriculture. 

The passing of John A. Craig marked the close of an eventful 
career in livestock husbandry. Professor Craig was born 
December 25, 1868, at Russell, Ontario, and was reared among 
Canadian stockmen. He possessed an innate love for animal 
life and a patient gentleness of spirit that is won only by those 
who live in perfect communion with nature. He sprang from 
Scotch stock, his home being in that section of Ontario that has 
given so largely of its sons to quicken our agricultural progress, 
Carlyle (32), Marshall, Ferguson, Kennedy, Rutherford, 
McLean and Christie. His elemental subjects were learned in 
the rural schools, but he gained his science at the Ontario Agri- 
cultural College and the University of Toronto, 

His first influence on agriculture was exerted in 1889 through 
his connection with the "Canadian Livestock Journal," but in 1890 
he was called by Dean Henry (20) to Madison to become the first 
head of a purely livestock department in an educational institu- 
tion. His work was that of a pioneer, but he builded broadly 
in establishing methods of research and outlining systems of 
teaching. He based his theory on the principle that accurate 
and scientific knowledge of animals can be acquired only from 



78 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

a study of the animals themselves. In 1896 he went to Iowa 
where he organized the material for and published a 200-page 
book on "Judging Livestock," still the classic on this subject. 
It has gone through seventeen editions and many thousan-ds of 
volumes, but its story is not yet fully told. In 1899 he arranged 
the first interstate student's livestock judging contest at the Trans- 
Mississippi Exposition at Omaha. 

Professor Craig felt seriously the handicap of failing hear- 
ing and a permanent lameness in one leg, and in 1901 he 
deemed it best to retire from college life. As soon as this 
decision became known he was offered the managing editorship 
of the Iowa Homestead, in Des Moines. Here the quaint sim- 
plicity of the pastoral genius that introduced his utterances in 
his text book, received a fuller rein, but his editorial life was 
too short. Failing health could not stand the confinement and 
the following year he practiced farming in Barron Co., Wiscon- 
sin. The season was too severe, however,- and he found relief 
at San Antonio, Texas, where he established Oakmore Farm. 
Here he did some of his best work as a writer, and spent the 
happiest and most hopeful period of his life. 

As his health was improving, he accepted in 1903 the position 
of -dean and director of the Texas Agricultural College and 
Experiment Station, but the play of politics was too much for a 
man who never sold his manhood nor sacrificed a principle. He 
returned to Oakmore in 1906 only to be called two years later 
to Oklahoma. A factional political fight dealt illy with him 
here and he resigned at the end of the 1909-10 school year. At 
a tremendous sacrifice of energy, he had given these institutions 
new direction and new life, and he had blazed a way that has 
made it easy for his successors to follow. He returned from 
Stillwater to Oakmore and after a brief illness passed beyond 
on August 9, 1910. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 79 

At the time of his resignation from Oklahoma, Dean Henry 
wrote a friend: "The thing that pleased me more than words 
can express, was the showing in Prof. Craig's letters that he 
was a matured, advanced thinker along agricultural lines, both 
educationally and experimentally ... In him I saw a leader, 
one who was making good and leaving his mark. I felt that 
under his guidance Oklahoma would soon have an agricultural 
development that would serve as a model for the whole south- 
western United States, if not for a much larger region . . . 
Does Oklahoma realize that she is losing in the passing of 
Professor Craig one of the all too few really intellectually 
mature, unselfish leaders in agricultural education and research. 
Does she realize that to replace such a man she cannot find half 
a dozen in the whole United States, and they are fixtures and 
not seeking positions. Men in agricultural teaching and research 
who have the right makeup in intellect, spirit and training are 
oh! so rare." 

Not long before his death, Professor Craig sent to some of 
his friends the following beautiful sentiment, a sentiment he 
had lived more significantly than he knew: 

"Lord, make me respect my material so much that I dare not 
slight my work. Help me to deal very honestly with words and 
with people, because they are both alive. Show me that as in a 
river, so in a writing, clearness is the best quality, and a little 
that is pure is worth more than much that is mired. Teach me 
to see the local color without being blind to the inner light. 
Give me an ideal that will stand the strain of weaving into 
human stuff on the loom of the real. Keep me from caring 
more for books than for folks, for art more than for life. Steady 
me to do my full stint of work as well as I can, and when that 
is done, stop me, pay what wages Thou wilt, and help me to say 
from a quiet heart, a grateful Amen." 



80 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A SPONSOR FOR AGRICULTURAL INVESTIGATION . 

25. Legislation for the founding of the agricuhural college 
and experiment station system in America may be credited to 
three men, Senator Morrill (28), Congressman Hatch (27), 
and, Congressman Adams. Frailest physically, but most zealous 
intellectually, was the last named of the three, a man who burned 
the candle of life freely when he fought for his beloved agricul- 
tural interests. He claimed no laurels as an originator of rural 
legislation, but he found universal recognition in his framing 
of the meat inspection and pure food bills, his championship of 
the oleomargarine legislation and his supplementing of the 
appropriation for the agricultural experiment stations. 

Hon. Henry Cullen Adams was born September 28, 1850, at 
Verona, N. Y. His father was a professor of Greek and Latin 
at Hamilton College, but while he was still in his mother's arms 
the family proceeded to Wisconsin. His early years were spent 
at Beaver Dam and Liberty Prairie, and he ultimately moved to 
a farm in the vicinity of Madison. His education was obtained 
in the rural and city schools and in the Albion Academy, while 
he spent three years at the University of Wisconsin. His career 
here was terminated due to ill health, and after an unsuccessful 
attempt to study law, he engaged in dairy and fruit farming. 
This was his chief occupation until the last five years of his life, 
when he devoted much of his time to real estate. As a farmer 
he entered into a variety of activities tending toward rural bet- 
terment. He was an institute worker in connection with the state 
university, secretary of the Wisconsin State Horticultural Society, 
member of the State Board of Agriculture, and President of the 
State Dairymen's Association. 

In politics he was equally prominent. For two terms he was 
a member of the state legislature. Superintendent of Public 
Property for six years, and Dairy and Food Commissioner for 
eight years. He was elected representative from the 2d Wiscon- 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 81 

sin Congressional District to the 58th and 59th Congresses, where 
he was a member of the committee on agriculture. Here he 
performed the services previously enumerated and on his way 
home from the last Congress passed away at the Auditorium 
Hotel, Chicago, July 9, 1906. 

Mr. Adams was a man of extreme honesty and faithfulness. 
His judgment was of the highest order and his cordial friendli- 
ness won him a host of supporters. No public servant was ever 
more worthy of his trust, and the rural interests of America can 
well laud him as one of their heroes. 



82 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A PROFESSOR WHO PRACTISED HIS OWN PREACHMENTS 

26. Towering head and shoulders above his colleagues in the 
collegiate profession as a moulder of the destinies of the Ameri- 
can livestock industry, is Charles F. Curtiss, dean and director 
of the Division of Agriculture of the Iowa State College, Ames, 
la. Dean Curtiss possesses the happy combination of a mind 
and instincts firmly grounded in livestock fundamentals, and is 
able to impress the student of agriculture, the farmer, the young 
breeder and the most seasoned man of business with the dignity 
and the desirability of rural callings. Dean Curtiss gained a 
vision of the relations between agriculture and public service 
through his years as an understudy of "Tama Jim" Wilson (15) 
when the latter was professor of agriculture and director of the 
experiment station at the Iowa State College. He was born at 
Boral, III, December 12, 1863, the son of Franklin Curtiss, 
a sturdy and progressive pioneer farmer. His early years were 
spent on the farm and at twenty years of age he entered Iowa 
State College. He received his Bachelor's Degree in 1887 and 
seven years later was awarded his M. S. In recognition of his 
broad services to American husbandry he was given the doctorate 
of science in 1907 by the Michigan Agricultural College. 

It is in Dean Curtiss' public life, however, that his greatest 
contributions to agriculture have been made. With his first sav- 
ings he secured the tract of land south of Iowa State College 
that is today known as Rookwood Farm, and with an eye to the 
achievements of the constructive leaders of the preceding gen- 
eration, selected high class Shorthorn cattle, Shropshire sheep 
and Berkshire swine with which to stock it. Recognizing the 
profitableness of using purebred draft animals to provide farm 
power, a few years after establishing his farm, he purchased a 
few Percheron mares and at present has a capital bunch of 
breeding animals and young stock. Dean Curtiss is a con- 
structive farmer of the broadest gauged type. He not only has 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 83 

brought his farm to a higher stage of fertility than it possessed 
at his purchase, but he has achieved most successful results in 
show and sale ring with his Shorthorns and Berkshires. As a 
young calf in the herd of Carpenter & Ross (106), he selected 
Count Avon, a son of Avondale, and at the International of 
1912 as a two-year-old, this bull achieved the grand champion- 
ship. His Berkshires have won prizes at the three greatest swine 
shows in America, the Iowa State Fair, the National Swine 
Show, and the International Exposition. At the college his 
efforts have been equally successful. Four times the grand 
championship at the International on steers has gone to Ames, 
an4 draft horses, swine and sheep have been prominent winners, 
the college having had grand champion barrow three times. The 
college bred the champion gelding of the 1917 and 1918 Inter- 
nationals shown by WiLSON & Co. 

Dean Curtiss has been a prominent factor in Iowa agricul- 
ture as a director of the State Board of Agriculture and super- 
intendent of the horse department at the Iowa State Fair. He 
is a life member of the International Livestock Association and 
from the beginning has been connected as a director, official and 
judge, now being its president. He has been President of the 
American Berkshire Association, and of the American Shrop- 
shire Association, director of the Percheron Society of America 
and a director and member of the executive committee of the 
National Society of Livestock Record Associations. He was a 
member of the horse breeding and meat investigation committee 
of the United States Department of Agriculture and special inves- 
tigator for Great Britain and Mexico. He has been con- 
sulting editor of the Agricultural Digest and staff correspondent 
of practically all the leading farm journals, notably The Breeder s 
Gazette and Wallace's Farmer. 

Dean Curtiss is one of the foremost judges of livestock of all 
breeds and classes in America. He has performed satisfactorily 



84 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

in draft horse, beef cattle, harness horse, swine and sheep rings, 
at state fairs, the American Royal, Madison Square Garden and 
the International. He was one of a group of three judges chosen 
to represent America in the first international exchange of judges 
with the Argentine. He there tied the ribbons on the Short- 
horns, and the bull he selected for champion established the 
price record for an animal of Argentinian breeding at that date. 
Dean Curtiss more than anyone else has demonstrated to the 
breeder and practical farmer, the ultimate worth of an agricul- 
tural college education. His portrait was given to the Saddle 
and Sirloin Club by the students of Iowa State College. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 85 

FOUNDER OF THE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT 
STATIONS 

27. The man who first appreciated in a concrete and con- 
structive way the effect of local conditions in the application 
of agricultural knowledge, was William Henry Hatch, origina- 
tor an4 proponent of the act that founded the agricultural experi- 
ment stations. He was a man of varied interests and many-sided 
personality, but through it all ran a warm sympathy that turned 
him to rural interests always, in spite of an eventful public life. 

Mr. Hatch was born in Georgetown, Ky., Sept. 11, 1833, of 
New England parentage. During his early years he displayed 
a pastoral disposition, and was vitally concerned with all things 
connected with farm and animal life. For forty years his inter- 
ests were grounded in his own acres, an-d his public career was 
characterized by a constructive insight into the rural, social, 
and economic structure. His school life at Georgetown and 
Lexington, Ky., was very brief, and he early went to Richmond, 
Ky., where he secured employment in a drug store and studied 
law in the office of Judge Turner. At the age of twenty-one, 
he was admitted to the bar, but soon removed to Missouri, where 
four years later he was made attorney in the circuit court of 
the sixteenth judicial district for two terms. 

His second term was interrupted by his commission as captain 
in the Confederate army in 1862. The following year he was 
appointed commissioner in charge of the exchange of prisoners. 
He was stationed at Richmond, Virginia, and was so considerate 
in the discharge of his duty that he was endeared by friend an<I 
foe alike. About this time he was promoted to a lieutenant- 
colonelcy. 

In 1878, Col. Hatch was elected to Congress, where he served 
for sixteen years. He was here the author of numerous bills 
of agricultural importance. In addition to the experiment sta- 
tion bill already mentioned, he fathered the oleomargarine law 



86 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

and the anti-option bills. He died December 23, 1896, near 
Hannibal, Mo., two years after leaving Congress. 

The Massachusetts experiment station was first established as 
the Hatch experiment station, being named in his honor. His 
life was characterized by integrity, firm conviction and a gen- 
erous lovable disposition, and his contribution to agricultural 
progress under the Hatch act is immeasurable in its worth. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 87 

CREATOR OF THE LAND-GRANT COLLEGES 

28. The founder of American agricultural education was the 
Hon. Justin S. Morrill of Vermont. Born at Stratford in that 
state on April 14, 1810, his early opportunities were somewhat 
limited. His education was obtained in the common schools 
an^d academies of the immediate vicinity and at the age of fifteen 
he was forced to begin work as a clerk in a store. In 1828 he 
entered the employ of a West India merchant at Portland, Me., 
and three years later launched a partnership in merchandise 
with Jedediah Harris of that city. This business was main- 
tained until the death of Mr. Harris in 1855. 

As a young man, Senator Morrill evinced a studious dispo- 
sition, reading continuously to supplement the deficiencies of 
his education. His topics were varied, and he mastered even 
"Blackstone's Commentaries" while a clerk in the Stratford 
store. His memory was singularly retentive and his intellect 
powerful; in 1850, he had become one of the best equipped men 
in Vermont to hold a position requiring sagacity and training. 

He held no political aspirations as a young man, and although 
elected a justice of peace, refused to serve. Hence it was a 
distinct surprise and tribute to him when he was unanimously 
nominated to succeed Congressman Andrew Tracy in 1854. 
Mr. Morrill was seated in the 34th congress in 1855, on the 
Whig ticket. He participated actively in the foundation of the 
new Republican party. In Congress his influence increased 
rapidly and he was a member of many important committees 
during his six terms of service. His tastes soon led him to 
questions of agriculture and financial importance, and as a 
result he was an early advocate of a strong protective tariff. 

In 1858 Congressman Morrill added lustre to the fame he 
had already gained in opposing the tariff bill in 1857, by intro- 
ducing an4 pushing to a successful issue the first anti-polygamy 
bill to affect the Utah Mormons. During the same year he intro- 



88 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

duced the Land-Grant college bill, providing for the setting aside 
of public lands to found agricultural, industrial and scientific 
institutions in the newly settled districts. Although this 
passed both branches of Congress it was vetoed by President 
Buchanan, and it did not become a law until re-passed in 1862 
and signed by President Lincoln. Under the provisions of 
this law more than fifty institutions were established over the 
country with facilities for 500 or more students and instructors 
in each. A later act fathered by Mr. Morrill supplemented 
the college support. 

In the troublous times just before the War of Secession Mr. 
Morrill was a most prominent figure on the floor of the house. 
He delivered the speech credited with defeating the admission 
of Kansas as a state under a pro-slavery constitution. He was 
placed in charge of all tariff, tax and revenue bills throughout 
the war and in 1861 devised the MoRRiLL Tariff Act that 
remained in force until replaced by the McKinley bill of the 
51st Congress. His bill was the first to change the ad valorem 
basis to that of specific duties. 

His election to the Senate occurred in 1867, as a successor to 
Luke P. Poland of Vermont. Here he was five times elected 
to succeed himself and served a total of over forty years in both 
houses. As chairman of the committees on finance and public 
buildings and grounds, he was a highly important figure, while 
his counsel as a member of the committees on education and 
labor, census, revolutionary claims and additional accommoda- 
tions to the Congressional Library was eagerly sought. 

He was an author of no mean repute, contributing copiously 
to the magazines and journals of the day. In 1886 a book by 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 89 

him, entitled "The Self-Consciousness of Noted Persons," 
appeared from a Boston press. This was a collection of self 
appreciative expressions made by a number of distinguished 
figures. Dartmouth College conferred an M. A. on him in 1857, 
the University of Vermont an LL. D. in 1874, and the University 
of Pennsylvania a similar degree in 1884. His honorable career 
in Congress constitutes one of its brightest bits of service and 
established a record whose length is yet unequalled. 



90 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A CONSTRUCTIVE AGRICULTURAL THINKER 

29. Among the sturdy apostles of a new American agriculture 
that flocked so abundantly from the halls of the little Michigan 
Agricultural College in the 80's was Dean Eugene Davenport. 
Born at Woodland, Michigan, June 20, 1856, he grew to young 
manhood on a Michigan farm. Of sternest stuff, he earned his 
own way through the agricultural college, receiving the degrees 
of Bachelor of Science in 1878, Master of Science in 1884, and 
Master of Agriculture in 1885. During these years he had 
taught both public and private schools, and interspersed his 
teaching seasons with vigorous wrestling with soil and crop on 
the home farm. The exigencies of his early career grounded 
his viewpoint firmly upon the soil, and he has never failed in 
after years to hold to that as fundamental. The social and 
economic problems of the rural community have always been 
the ones next to his heart. From 1889 to 1891, he was professor 
of agriculture at the Michigan college, but in the summer of 
that year was called to found and organise a government school 
at Sao Paulo, Brazil. The record he had established at his 
own Alma Mater of successfully measuring himself against odds 
and difficulties was continued in Brazil, but the effort proved 
premature on the part of this South American government. He 
consequently returned to America, but proceeding by way of 
England, made a thorough study of the English methods of 
agricultural education and the English practices of husbandry. 
He was particularly impressed by the fertility maintenance 
experiments of Lawes and Gilbert at Rothamstead, just out of 
London, and he returned to college work with a broadened out- 
look and a new enthusiasm. 

In January, 1895, he became dean and director of agriculture 
at the University of Illinois, a position he has held ever since. 
Under his supervision the Illinois college has grown to be one 
of the largest in the matter of equipment, faculty and attend- 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 91 

ance, that has been produced in America. Dean Davenport 
has particularly emphasized the need for research, at the same 
time seeking a balanced development on the practical side of 
agriculture. He has gathered around him a most notable faculty, 
and has secured the greatest appropriations any agricultural 
school in America has enjoyed. 

Dean Davenport has written abundantly for the agricultural 
press, and has himself prepared numerous reports and bulletins. 
In 1907 he published through GiNN & Co., his volume on the 
"Principles of Breeding," a book on which he had labored for 
well over ten years. In 1909 his treatise on "Education for 
Efficiency" left the press and in 1910 his high school text on 
"Domesticated Animals and Plants" appeared. He has been a 
popular speaker on agricultural topics, a most thoughtful writer, 
and an original thinker. Dean Davenport's greatest genius has 
laid in his ability to organize and direct others, and in this 
capacity he has achieved the largest results from an educational 
standpoint. Honors for him have been frequent and distin- 
guished. He is widely recognized on public programs, has been 
chairman of the agricultural section of the American Associa- 
tion for the A4vancement of Science, and has held numerous 
other offices of distinction. In 1907 his Alma Mater conferred 
upon him the honorary degree of LL. D., and in 1913 the honor 
was repeated by the University of Kentucky. While in England, 
Dean Davenport was elected a member of the Author's Club 
in London, and his writings have been watched quite carefully 
by British readers. 



92 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A SERUM SAVIOR OF SWINE 

30. During the last forty years the loss due to hog cholera 
in the United States has averaged about fifty million dollars 
annually, four percent interest on an investment of a billion 
an4 a quarter dollars. During this period the total loss haa 
been nearly two billion dollars, or approximately twice as much 
as the theoretical investment. In 1913, a year when the scourge 
flourished, a toll of seventy-five million dollars was exacted, 
while in 1918, it had been reduced sixty percent, or a total of 
thirty-two million dollars. In Iowa in 1913, nearly three million 
hogs died with the cholera, while in 1917 the loss was less than 
a hundred and eighty-nine thousand. The man to whom this 
phenomenal saving may be credited is Dr. Marion Dorset, dis- 
coverer of the anti-hog cholera serum. 

Dr. Dorset was born in Columbia, Tennessee, December 14, 
1872, and was graduated from the University of Tennessee with 
a B. S. degree in 1893. He immediately proceeded to Columbian 
(now George Washington) University at Georgetown, where 
he received his M. D,, and later took up veterinary studies at 
the University of Pennsylvania. He specialized in bacteriology 
and pathology, and from the first engaged in research work on 
the bacterial toxins. In 1905 in collaboration with Dr. Niles 
of Iowa he published his first bulletin on the method of pre- 
paring anti-hog cholera serum. Of recent years he has par- 
ticularly studied tuberculosis, but has given some attention to 
the etiology and prevention of other animal diseases. He is 
chief of the biochemic division, Bureau of Animal Industry, and 
is a member of the American Public Health Association, Ameri- 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 93 

can Chemical Society, Society of American Bacteriologists, and 
is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement 
of Science. 

Dr. Dorset's work has been almost entirely of a research 
nature, and he has taken only a minor part in the development 
of the great organization that has succeeded in so cutting down 
the toll of this terrible disease. His purely scientific interest 
prevented him from taking any personal advantage of his dis- 
covery with regard to patents and today numerous serum com- 
panies conduct enormous businesses based on his methods. 



94 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

AN ARGENTINE AMBASSADOR 

31. Charles E. Duggan is the first breeder from the Argen- 
tine to visit the International as a judge, and one of the leading 
figures in the effort to promote an entente cordiale between the 
Shorthorn promoters of the northern and southern continents. 
Of British parentage, his father Irish and his mother English, 
he was born native of Argentina in the late 60's. His start in 
the Shorthorn industry was most auspicious, as his father had 
acquired the Cruickshank Argentine importation, bought by 
Thomas Nelson, Charles Duggan's maternal grandfather. As 
head of the firm of Duggan Bros., he operates estancias totaling 
one million acres, one of the largest holdings in the Argentine. 
The DuGGANS have persistently held to the female descendants 
of the original Cruickshank importation, and although the ani- 
mals are kept in rough outdoor condition, some noteworthy sires 
and show animals in other hands have been sold from the herd. 
Duggan bulls have the singular habit of breeding better than 
they appear and so firmly entrenched has his position become 
to Argentine breeders that he has for many years been treasurer 
of the Shorthorn Association in Argentina. In 1916 Mr. Duggan 
came to the International to judge the bullocks and at the same 
time he assisted on the Shorthorn breeding cattle. In the name 
of the family he has presented to the American Shorthorn Asso- 
ciation a cup for the best bull and female bred by exhibitor, 
permanent possession being obtained when one exhibitor has 
won it three times, or at two Internationals in succession. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 95 

FROM PROFESSOR'S CHAIR TO PRINCE'S PADDOCK 

32. Foremost among the contingent of students of animal 
husbandry to leave the gates of the Ontario Agricultural College, 
an-d carry the message of modern livestock practice to America, 
is William Levi Carlyle. Professor Carlyle was instructor 
in the Ontario Agricultural College for the school year 1892-93, 
and was so successful that he was called to the University of 
Minnesota for the next three years as an extension lecturer in 
Animal Husbandry. Here his acquaintance among American 
livestock men was rapidly broadened, and in 1896 he was elected 
to the University of Wisconsin as Professor of Animal Hus- 
bandry, to succeed the lamented Craig (24). For seven years 
he pursued a series of practical investigations in the feeding 
and management of livestock, cooperating with Dean Henry 
(20) in his studies on the food requirements of cattle and sheep 
under midwest systems of handling. While at Madison he 
inspired numerous young men with the vision of improved live- 
stock, and numbers of his students went back to the farm to 
succeed as breeders, or went to other institutions to carry on the 
message of a better husbandry. Prominent among the latter are 
True of California, Trowbridge of Missouri, Richards of 
North Dakota, Morton of Colorado, Dodge of Hood Farm and 
ScHROEDER of the Wisconsin Agriculturist. In 1903 he was 
ma<ie professor of agriculture at the Colorado Agricultural 
College, and two years later was elected dean. In 1909 due to 
an unusual political situation he resigned his post, and the fol- 
lowing year was made director of the experiment station and 
dean of agriculture at the University of Idaho. Here his suc- 
cess was instantaneous, and he made strenuous efforts to upbuild 
the herds of cattle and sheep at the college and to introduce 
purebred sires of both races into the state. In 1915 Dean Car- 
lyle was made dean and director of agriculture at the Okla- 
homa A. & M. College at Stillwater. Here he made strong 



96 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

efforts to advertise the work of the institution and to increase 
its prestige. During his years at Stillwater he turned out several 
champion and prize winning steers at the southwest fat stock 
shows, induced numerous feeders and cattle men of the state 
to embark in the production of purebred cattle, and was respon- 
sible for the enactment of an effective stallion law. In 1919 
he resigned his position to enter commercial pursuits, and was 
appointed manager of the large Percheron holdings of George 
Lane, Calgary, Alberta, being in direct charge of one 14,000 acre 
farm. During the visit of the Prince of Wales to Canada in 
1919, the Prince was the guest of Mr. Lane at the Bar U 
ranches, and became extremely interested in farm lands. While 
on a chicken shooting party in which both the Prince and Mr. 
Carlyle were included, the Prince determined on purchasing 
a farm adjoining Bar U ranch an4 appointed Mr. Carlyle 
agent and manager with Mr. Lane as advisor for the property. 
On the return of the Prince to Britain, Mr. Carlyle selected 
Shorthorn cattle, Shropshire sheep and Thoroughbred horses 
from the English estate of His Royal Highness with which to 
stock the Alberta acreage. The new farm is christened the E. P. 
ranch, based on the custom of the owner to sign himself Edward 
Prince. 

Dean Carlyle was born in Ontario, September 22, 1870, and 
became a citizen of the United States in 1904. He received his 
Bachelor's degree at the Ontario Agricultural College in 1892, 
and his M. S. at the Colorado Agricultural College in 1905. 
His chief influence has been exerted for the introduction and 
dissemination of purebred animals, and he has made a careful 
study of feeding and development under range conditions. So 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 97 

enthusiastic has been his work that one daughter, Helen, grad- 
uated in animal husbandry from the Kansas State Agricultural 
College. Dean Carlyle's portrait was presented to the club 
while he was executive at the Colorado Agricultural College. 
It was subscribed to by several hundred students in the college 
and friends throughout the state. 



98 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

THE FIRST CHIEF OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY 

33. An act of congress in 1884 established the Bureau of 
Animal Industry with Dr. Daniel Elmer Salmon as chief. Dr. 
Salmon's attention was first directed to the protection of the 
American livestock industry from the plagues which occasionally 
enter from outside the borders of the country, as well as to the 
extermination of those diseases that had already gained a foot- 
hold. He established a system of policing to prevent the 
entrance of the two most destructive diseases found in foreign 
countries, the foot and mouth -disease and rinderpest. So suc- 
cessful has been this precaution, that rinderpest has never gained 
an entrance and foot and mouth disease appeared only thrice. 

Dr. Salmon was born at Mount Olive, Morris Co., New Jer- 
sey, July 23, 1850. His early life was passed partly on a farm 
and partly as a clerk in a country store. His pre-collegiate 
training was received at the Mount Olive district school at 
Chester Institute, and at the East Business College. He entered 
Cornell University as a member of its first freshman class, and 
almost immediately came under the stimulating influence of 
Prof. James Law (122). Circumstances developed which per- 
mitted him to attend the Alfort Veterinary School near Paris 
during the last six months of his course, when he came under the 
influence of the great Pasteur. He was given credit for this 
work at Cornell, and in 1876 received the degree of Veterinary 
Surgeon. He immediately entered upon practice in Newark, New 
Jersey, and was so successful and original in his methods, that 
in 1876 his Alma Mater granted him the advanced degree of 
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. In 1877 he was invited to 
deliver a course of lectures on Veterinary Science in the Uni- 
versity of Georgia, but continued his practice until his appoint- 
ment as first Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry. 

In 1879 he was appointed inspector of the state of New York 
to serve on the staff of Dr. Law in an eff"ort to stamp out con- 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 99 

tagious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle. Later he accepted a posi- 
tion under Commissioner LeDuc, of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, to investigate animal diseases in the South- 
ern States. In 1883, he was recalled to Washington to establish 
a veterinary division in the Department. About this time, con- 
tagious pleuro-pneumonia became a serious menace, and he 
recognized the necessity of central authority and organization 
to protect our cattle. He conceived the plan of a Federal Bureau 
of Animal Industry and through his efforts it was established 
in 1884. As Chief of that Bureau his work was two-fold; 
research and the enforcement of regulatory laws. It was with 
feelings of deep regret that he was gradually forced from 
researches on animal diseases into the turmoils of administra- 
tive life. However, it was for him to recognize the greater prob- 
lems in the sanitary control of food-producing animals and to 
initiate the means for their solution. 

During the twenty-one years he occupied this position. Dr. 
Salmon accomplished notable results in ridding the country of 
livestock plagues. Under his administration the Bureau grew 
from an original staff of a chief, one clerk, and a force of twentv 
persons, to a department having approximately five thousand 
employees. Its activities were developed in all phases of live- 
stock production and the related, industries, and nineteen divi- 
sions and offices were established, the ramifications of whose 
work extend into nearly every state of the Union and into foreign 
countries. 

Among the benefits to the livestock interests which the Bureau 
of Animal Industry gave to our people during his administra- 
tion should be mentioned the eradication from America of con- 
tagious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle; the federal inspection of 
exported animals and the ships to carry them; improvement in 
the quarantine regulations against imported animals; the dis- 
covery of the cause of Texas fever and methods for the control 



100 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

of that disease; the establishment of the federal meat inspection 
service; and many important investigations into the nature of 
several serious infectious maladies of animals. 

As Chief of the Bureau, Dr. Salmon stood firm against polit- 
ical interference with research and other scientific work. He 
was equally careful to protect the breeders and those engaged 
in animal traffic. To him, more than to any other, we are 
indebted for an efficient organization to combat animal plagues 
and a meat inspection service which has protected our commerce 
in animal products and safeguarded the people against the dis- 
eases communicable to them through dumb creation. In these 
protections our country is not excelled. 

In 1906 Dr. Salmon was placed in charge of the veterinary 
department of the University of Montevideo in Uraguay at a 
salary far in excess of that ofifered by our own Government. For 
five years he remained in this country, but due to climatic diffi- 
culties he returned to the United States, giving his attention 
during the closing months of his life to the preparation of hog 
cholera virus. He failed rapidly, however, and died at Butte, 
Mont., August 30, 1914. 

Dr. Salmon was an Honorary Associate of the Royal College 
of Veterinary Surgeons of Great Britain; a Fellow of the Ameri- 
can Association for the Advancement of Science; chairman of 
the committee on animal diseases and animal food of the Ameri- 
can Public Health Association, president and member of the 
executive committee of the American Veterinary Association, and 
an active worker in the Washington Academy of Science. 

Dr. Salmon was a prominent writer on veterinary subjects, 
especially those pertaining to the infectious diseases. Many of 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 101 

his publications have appeared in other languages. He was a 
clear and convincing speaker, and was a member of many scien- 
tific societies. With all his greatness he was a modest and kindly 
man, retiring in nature, of studious habits, just in his delibera- 
tions but firm when his decision was reached. His constructive 
vision and untiring zeal make him one of the most prominent 
figures in the professions allied to livestock production. 



102 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A PREVENTER OF PESTILENCE 

34. Upon the resignation of Dr. Salmon (33), as Chief of the 
Bureau of Animal Industry in 1905, Dr. Alonzo D. Melvin was 
appointed chief, a position he retained until his death, Decem- 
ber 7, 1917. Dr. Melvin was born at Sterling, 111., October 
28, 1862, and was educated in the grammar school and business 
college of that city. He then spent four years in practical 
experience on a good livestock farm, and in 1883 entered the 
Chicago Veterinary College. After three years of study he 
received his degree of Doctor of Veterinary Surgery, and imme- 
diately entered the service of the newly organized Bureau of 
Animal Industry. In 1887 he was transferred to Baltimore and 
three years later was sent to Liverpool to inspect animals and 
vessels from the United States. In 1892 he was recalled, and 
placed in charge of meat inspection in Packingtown, Chicago. 
Here he remained for four years, building up and extending 
the system of safeguarding human food products. In 1899 he 
was made Assistant Chief of Animal Industry, and succeeded to 
the head of it on Dr. Salmon's resignation in 1905. He was a 
member of the Adivisory Board to the Hygienic Laboratory of 
the United States Public Health and Marine Hospital Service, 
was president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 
1909 to 1910, and was honorary associate of the Royal College 
of Veterinary Surgeons. 

Under Dr. Melvin some of the most important campaigns of 
the Bureau of Animal Industry were executed. In 1906 the 
first appropriations for the quarantine eradication of the Texas 
fever tick were granted, and at the time of his death, six of 
the fifteen states, originally quarantined, were pronounced free 
of the tick, while several of the others had only a few counties 
remaining to clean up. Originally the territory attacked included 
730,000 square miles, and considerably over half of it had been 
made tick free in 1917. Under his guidance, the nation wide 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 103 

attacks on hog cholera and tuberculosis were begun, and it was 
due to his support that the system of herds accredited free of 
tuberculosis was adopted. He was active in promoting the .dip- 
ping system all over the range country for the reduction of 
scabies and manges in cattle and sheep, and while he was in 
charge of the Bureau, measures for the restriction of dourine 
and contagious abortion were instituted. In 1914 he demanded 
and secured the enforcement of the rigid quarantine that ulti- 
mately permitted the reduction of foot and mouth disease. 

To him fell the laborious task and the responsibility of devel- 
oping the enterprises that had already been initiated. In the 
twenty-one years during which the Bureau had operated it had 
undertaken a multiplicity of services for the benefit of the 
breeders, packers and consumers. To carry such beginnings to 
a successful conclusion is often more trying than to inaugurate 
them. With a keen sense of justice and a long suffering patience. 
Dr. Melvin advanced the work in hand and met the ever-chang- 
ing conditions due to new knowledge. Broad and comprehen- 
sive as were the purposes of the Bureau, they had to be modified 
and extended, as well as to be correlated with the work of indi- 
vidual states and institutions. Like his predecessor. Dr. Salmon, 
he stood firm against the intrusion of political interference with 
scientific work, and bravely met the misguided efforts of live- 
stock owners who from time to time came to believe that science 
and natural laws could be disregarded in the control of animal 
plagues. His ability as an administrator, his sterling qualities 
as a man, his nobility of character, his gentle and sympathetic 
nature and his loyalty to the purposes of the Bureau endeared 
him to all. He died suddenly in Washington, D. C, December 
7, 1917. 

His twelve years in the Bureau of Animal Industry were indeed 
years of big undertakings, and his constructive recognition of 
the nation's problems contributed largely to the present rela- 
tively healthy status of American livestock. 



104 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A GUARDIAN OF ANIMAL HEALTH 

35. The present Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry is 
Dr. John Robbins Mohler. Dr. Mohler was born in Phila- 
delphia, May 9, 1875, graduating from the Central High school 
in 1892. The following year he attended Temple University 
and in 1896 received his V. M. D. from the University of Penn- 
sylvania. For one year following his graduation he was in 
veterinary practice, but from 1897 to 1899 he found a larger 
service in the medical department , of the Marquette University 
and as an assistant inspector of the Bureau of Animal Industry. 
His progress in the Bureau was rapid, and in 1899 he was made 
assistant pathologist; in 1901 zoologist; and in 1902, chief of 
the Pathological Division. After twelve years in this depart- 
ment, he was made assistant chief of the Bureau, and on the 
death of Dr. Melvin, he succeeded him as chief. Dr. Mohler 
has held numerous positions of national and international 
importance. In 1908 he was secretary of the Veterinary section 
of the International Tuberculosis Congress; in 1909 and 1910 
he was vice president of the United States Livestock Sanitary 
Association, and in 1912 and 1913 president of the Veterinary 
Medical Association. The following year he was vice president 
of the International Veterinary Congress, and from 1914 to 1917 
was president of the Veterinary Examining Board in the District 
of Columbia. 

Dr. Mohler has been an active contributor to the programs 
of the Society of American Bacteriologists and the Society of 
Experimental Biology and Medicine. He is a voluminous pub- 
lisher in the fields of pathology, bacteriology and meat inspec- 
tion, and has contributed largely to Government publications, 
medical journals, and encyclopedias. Dr. Mohler has been an 
active translator, bringing out Ostertag's Hand Book of Meat 
Inspection in 1904, Edelmann's Meat Hygiene in 1908, Hutyra 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 105 

and Marck's Special Pathology and Therapeutics of Domestic 
Animals in 1911, and Ernst's Milk Hygiene in 1914. 

Dr. Mohler is prosecuting successfully most of the economic 
undertakings instituted by Dr. Melvin. He is doing much 
toward building up a scientific and, research spirit among his' 
personnel, and is at present fighting for stronger individual sup- 
port and larger salaries for the men who are responsible for the 
health and sanitation of the nation's ten billion dollar livestock 
industry. Like his predecessors, he is spending his life in the 
promotion and protection of the livestock interests of America. 



106 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

WIELDER OF THE GOLDEN PEN 

36, The pioneer publicity man of the early Internationals was 
Joseph Edward Guinane Ryan, native born Irishman and genial 
interpreter of those spirits who labored so strenuously on the 
foundations of the Exposition. He was born in County Clare 
in July, 1869, was educated in Dublin and graduated from Trin- 
ity College. As a student he was a renowned athlete, and won, 
a long string of medals for excellence in track, tennis and golf 
events. 

In 1889 he came to America, being first employed at the Stock- 
yards, but after a few months he became associated with the 
Schufeldt Distillery Co. His entrance into journalism occurred 
in 1898 when he began writing as a free lance on golf subjects. 
He was the author of the Golfer's Green Book. Two years later 
he was appointed to the staff of the Chicago Inter-Ocean, as auto- 
mobile editor, and manager of automobile advertising. 

While holding the latter position he became interested in the 
publicity promotion of numerous enterprises, among them the 
International Livestock Exposition, and became its press rep- 
resentative. This position he held until the time of his death. 
The interest in livestock he developed here and the acquaintance- 
ships he formed made it possible for him to handle the contract 
for the publicity for the New York Horse Show and the Chicago 
Automobile Show. His death occurred January 1, 1912. 

Among visitors to the early Internationals, Mr. Ryan was a 
familiar figure, never tiring in displaying the points of interest 
and delivering himself of good natured Irish comments. 
Although an unremittingly busy man he always found time to 
pass a word of good cheer or a bit of real Hibernian wit to 
friend or stranger alike. To him more than to anyone is due 
the interest developed by the natives of Chicago and other city 
dwellers in the livestock show. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 107 

THE DAVID HARUM OF DEXTER PARK 

37. The veritable dean in length of service among the habitues 
of the stockyard district and the Chicago horse market, is Samuel 
CozZENS. Born in Providence, R. I., in 1818, he came to Chicago 
at the age of eighteen. His first work was at the Yards where 
he was placed in charge of the Dexter Park horse market for the 
Stockyard Company, As the volume of business increased, he was 
appointed superintendent of this branch of the market and was 
placed in charge of the stables. From the very beginning Mr. 
CozzENs was recognized by Mr. Sherman (66), as a man of 
latent possibilities, and he turned a number of business and 
investment opportunities in his direction that served Mr. Coz- 
ZENS well from a financial standpoint. This so broadened his 
acquaintance among the men of the livestock industry of Chi- 
cago, that when he went into the coach and saddle horse business 
for himself in 1898, he was successful from the start. 

Mr. Cozzens has been a director of the Livestock Exchange 
Bank for thirty-five years, having been identified with it when 
it was opened as the Union Stockyard Bank. Upon its reorgani- 
zation as the Livestock Bank he retained his position, and for a 
period of ten years he has been a director of the Stock Yards Sav- 
ings Bank. Mr. Cozzens has done an enormous business in the 
lighter types of horses, but with the changing market demands 
he has extended his operations to animals of the draft type. His 
business has been phenomenally successful, and at one time he 
handled more horses than any other man in the Yards. 

In return for the interest and kindliness which Mr. Sherman 
showed him as a young man, Mr. Cozzens has been one of the 



108 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

most liberal and sympathetic men in the aiding of other young 
men to get a start. He has taken longer chances with men in 
more serious straits than almost any other benefactor of youth. 
Among the well known firms that received their impetus from 
Mr. Cozzens is that of Ellsworth & McNair. These men came 
to the horse market without capital but their character and 
upright methods were early recognized by Mr. Cozzens and he 
backed them without limit. Today this firm counts its capital 
in millions and has the largest equine sale business in America. 
Mr. Cozzens' gratefulness to Mr. Sherman has made him feel 
in duty bound to pass on kindness to everyone he can find, and 
his generosity has been a big factor in many business lives. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 109 

A PATRIARCH OF THE CATTLE MART 

38. One of the real veterans of the livestock commission busi- 
ness is MoNSON Parker Duel of the Evans-Snider-Buel Co., 
of Chicago. Mr. Duel was born at Croton, Licking Co., Ohio, 
October 14, 1845. He was educated in public schools and 
attended Granville College, Granville, Ohio, for one term. Mr. 
Buel was reared on his father's farm and for four years was a 
clerk in a general merchandise store at Croton. In 1865 he 
went west to California and Nevada where he was cashier in 
the National Bank at Austin, Nevada, for two and a half years. 
The confinement proved too much for him and his health was 
seriously affected. He therefore severed his connection with the 
bank and removed to Chillicothe, Missouri, where he engaged 
in the buying and handling of livestock. 

On May 1, 1876, he became a member of the livestock com- 
mission firm of Hunter, Evans & Co. at St. Louis, Mo., and 
nine years later removed to Chicago to continue the commis- 
sion game under the same firm name. Two years later the 
business was incorporated as the Evans-Snider-Buel Co., and 
he was elected vice president of the corporation. In 1894 he 
was made president, and has retained that position ever 
since, a period of over a quarter century. Under his experi- 
enced direction, the firm has grown rapidly and now has offices 
in Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Fort Worth and Oklahoma 
City. During his years in Chicago he has become identified 
with a number of firms throughout the southwest, engaging in 
buying and feeding cattle. Most of the stock handled has been 
secured in Texas, being fed in transit in feed lots throughout 



110 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Oklahoma and Missouri. In 1886 he became a member of the 
Chicago Livestock Exchange and for a number of years was 
director and vice president. In 1905 and 1906 he served two 
terms as president of this organization. 

Mr. Buel is a former president of the Saddle and Sirloln 
Club and has been an important figure in the development of 
its resident membership. His years of experience in the handling 
of livestock have given him an almost unmatched acquaintance 
among the buyers and feeders of midwestern and western United 
States. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 111 

FULFILLER OF SHOWYARD DREAMS 

39. The court of ultimate resort in the affairs of animal indus- 
try has, since the first of the present century, been located in 
the International Livestock Exposition held at Chicago each 
year. The burden of developing this institution was laid on 
the shoulders of Mr. William E. Skinner, in the spring of 1898. 
In company with Messrs. Robert B. Ogilvie (6), Mortimer 
Levering (40), and G. Howard Davison (8), at one of the 
Toronto Livestock Expositions, the idea of the International 
was generated, and on Mr. Skinner was conferred the title of 
General Manager of the exposition, a title that became obsolete 
with his departure as a compliment to the wealth of his service. 

Mr. Skinner is a native Canadian, his birthplace being Water- 
town, Ontario, on June 24, 1864. His father was a physician, 
but various circumstances prevented his receiving the customary 
public school education, and at twenty years of age, he crossed 
the border to become a citizen of the United States, a fact accom- 
plished in 1886. His first work was with the Erie & Western 
Railway, afterward a part of the Erie System. In 1884 he came 
to the Union Stock Yards in Chicago, and entered into duty 
with the Stock Yard Company, the beginning of an experience 
with the livestock market that has occupied the major years of 
his life. After three months in Chicago he transferred his alle- 
giance to the Street Stable Car Line, and personally conducted 
the first stable car across the Missouri river to Cheyenne. 
During his three years with this company his headquarters were 
at Cheyenne, and he lived an integral part of the boom days of 
the cattle country. In 1887 he entered the service of the Omaha 
Stock Yards Co. and so intimate did he grow into the market 
interests of the early cattle barons, that today he is known by 
his first name and wholesomely loved wherever cattle graze 
between Omaha and Cheyenne. The year prior to the Colum- 
bian Exposition he was sent to Fort Worth to help organize the 



112 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

old Fort Worth Stock Yards Co. and to build the livestock 
market. This duty accomplished, he was called to Chicago in 
the spring of 1898 by those who had seen the vision of the Inter- 
national Livestock Exposition. It was planned originally to 
hold the first show in 1899, but due to the extensive nature of 
the preparations it was deemed impossible, and the opening year 
was set for 1900. At the Toronto Show of 1899, Mr. Skinner 
personally pledged not only to equal, but actually to distance 
the old Lake Front Show in establishing the new International 
Exposition. His enthusiasm and acumen won the support of 
the Hon. John Dryden (14) and the Canadian breeders and 
exhibitors. From that date forward the international character 
of the show was assured. 

After the 1906 show, Mr. Skinner resigned as General Man- 
ager of the Exposition to go to Denver as assistant to Edward 
TiLDEN (63), president of the Denver Stock Yards Co. During 
this period he was president of the Chamber of Commerce for 
Colorado, but in 1911, on the request of his old International 
associates, he returned to Chicago to become General Manager 
of the National Dairy Show. Following the first successful 
Dairy Show of 1912 Mr. Skinner organized the National Dairy 
Council with Dr. H. B. Favill (17) as President and himself 
as Secretary. The National Dairy Council has become the guid- 
ing spirit in the promotion of the dairy industry, and all of 
the allied dairy interests have become members except the con- 
densed milk manufacturers and the refrigerator transportation 
lines. Under the guidance of the national council most of the 
dairy states have organized or are at present organizing state 
dairy councils. Manufacturers and breeders whose businesses 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 113 

are sufficiently large to be interstate in scope, are members of 
the National Council, while those whose operations are more 
limited geographically, are members of the state bodies. As a 
result a strong and constructive force has been introduced into 
an industry whose need was more than apparent, and Mr. Skin- 
ner is credited with the accomplishment of the first of what may 
become a series of special industry organizations in American 
agriculture. 



114 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A PROMOTER OF BREED ORGANIZATION 

40. Mortimer Levering brought to agricultural industry as 
broad a range of tastes, as great a degree of varied skill, and 
as high a perfection of subject mastery as modern America 
has known. Born of a sturdy stock of Quaker origin he com- 
bined with its simplicity of style the chivalrous viewpoint of 
cavaliers, and the artistic and literary perceptions of the Latin. 
Although his native home was Philadelphia, he early moved to 
Lafayette, Ind., and there became established as private banker 
and manager of farm property. At one time he had over twenty 
farms under his direction, but found time so to devote himself 
to his banking affairs, that it was his boast that he had never 
been forced to foreclose on a security. At his country home, 
Richmond Hill, with its sloping pastures bordering the Wabash, 
he for years maintained Jerseys, Shropshires, Shetlands and 
standard-bred poultry. He was one of the organizers of the 
American Shropshire Registry Association, early in 1881, and 
was its secretary until the day of his death. Under his regime 
it developed a larger membership than any sheep society in the 
world. He was also the secretary of the National Wool Grow- 
ers' Association for many years, and its eastern vice president 
thereafter. He took charge of the American Shetland Pony 
Club records in its feeble childhood, and as its secretary, 
builded it a perpetuating structure. The American Saddle Horse 
Breeders' Association made him a director and listened long to 
his seasoned counsel. He was a founder of the International 
and the Saddle and Sirloin Club, being secretary of the latter 
in its days of organization and early equipment. 

Mr. Levering was an enthusiastic sportsman and a seasoned 
judge of livestock. He was secretary of the Chicago Horse Show 
Association which not only revived the brilliancies of the old 
Lake Front Show, but actually outdazzled them at the Coliseum. 
At Kansas City when challenged by William R. Nelson as to 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 115 

his qualifications to adjudge an obstacle-driving class for coach- 
man, he displaced one driver from his box and performed so 
much more brilliantly than any contestant that his critic was 
subdued. He was a lover and appreciative critic of art, music 
an4 literature, and a notable gentleman athlete. He trained his 
son in his private gymnasium in the foundations that made him 
a brilliant star at Yale. It is related that he disarmed a French 
fencing master in a bout with the foils at Lafayette. 

In his later years, Mr. Levering undertook additional respon- 
sibilities. He became president of the Columbia National Bank 
at Indianapolis, Manager of the HoxiE Estate and Mallory 
Commission Co. of Chicago, and director and advisor of the 
In4ian Refining Co., of which his son was president. His death 
occurred December 1, 1909, at sixty and one-half years of age. 
He was the personal friend of every employee, an unostenta- 
tious philanthropist, and a sympathetic friend. His early death 
left a serious gap in all of his social and business connections. 



116 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A CREATOR OF CART HORSE CHARACTER 

41. Jonathan Hall Truman possesses the singular honor of 
being an English citizen who has contributed in the broadest 
and most constructive way to the upbuilding of improved Ameri- 
can agriculture. Mr. Truman was born in Whittlesea, Cam- 
bridgeshire, England, November 26, 1842. He was educated 
at the Oundle Grammar School where he gained the highest 
honors, and upon graduation, he took over the cattle and sheep 
business of his father, George Truman. 

Mr. Truman was invited to purchase the first shipment of live 
fat cattle shipped from the United States to London. Being of 
adventurous nature, and noting their superiority he purchased 
forty head and shipped them inland to the market town of 
Peterborough. These cattle were a great attraction, but caused 
considerable trouble among the butchers and feeders who were 
his customers. The butchers, indeed, refused to buy them at 
any price and with John Bull conservatism, advised him not 
to bring any more Yankee cattle to their market. Unable to 
sell them he took them home to his farm, and retailed them 
individually to small country butchers, being firmly determined 
to gain his point and to establish a market for the American 
export trade. He invited two of the largest butchers in Peter- 
borough to look at some fat sheep he had on the farm, and pur- 
chased a chine roast of grade Angus beef from one of them 
for the dinner he intended to serve them when they inspected 
his muttons. For the same dinner he also had a chine from 
one of the Yankee bullocks. Placing both joints on the table, 
he asked his guests to try a piece of the American beef. Both 
refused, so were supposedly served with the grade Angus. After 
acclaiming the farmer who fed the grade Angus as the best 
feeder in the country, their surprise was overwhelming when 




J. H. TRUMAN 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 117 

he told them they had partaken of the American beef. Thence- 
forward, he had no difficuhy in disposing of American cattle, 
and became one of the leading factors in the British end of the 
export cattle trade. 

In 1877 the French firm of T. M. Duche & Sons, commis- 
sioned him to proceed to Chicago and buy them a cargo of 
American cattle as an experiment. So successful was this pro- 
cedure that the early part of 1878 found him again at the 
Union Stock Yards, buying and shipping fat cattle and sheep 
to Britain. For several years he spent about nine months out 
of each twelve at the Chicago market and during this period 
he studied carefully the horse breeding interests of the Missis- 
sippi valley. He saw a notable opportunity to introduce a few 
Shire horses, himself being a breeder of the Cart horse in Eng- 
land. So successful was his first importation that he quit com- 
pletely the cattle export trade and devoted his entire time to 
the introduction and promotion of the Shire horse. As a base 
for his operations he founded Truman's Pioneer Stud Farm at 
Bushnell, 111., and became its president. Never having given 
up his residence in Englan<I, he returned to his home after the 
firm establishment of his American business, leaving its opera- 
tion in the hands of his sons, J. C, W. E., and H. W. Truman. 
Thenceforward he handled the English end of his export trade, 
and purchased and shipped to America numbers of high class 
winners in the International Shire and Hackney Rings. In addi- 
tion he has exported many noteworthy Shires, SufFolks and 
Hackneys to the Argentine. 

In appreciation of his work in the cattle trade, John B. Sher- 
man (66) named one of the Union Stock Yards fat bullocks 



118 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

/. H. Truman, in recognition of Mr. Truman's services as the 
first English resident buyer of export cattle at the Union Stock 
Yards. Mr. Sherman also invited him to exhibit an importa- 
tion of Shire horses at the livestock show held in the old Lake 
Front exposition building in 1882. In his later years, Mr. 
Truman is hale and hearty, and takes a personal active interest 
in the feeding and grazing of cattle and the breeding of high 
class horses on his British acres. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 119 

A HORSEMAN WHO RODE IN FLANDERS FIELDS 

42. One of the pioneer supporters of purebred livestock in 
Indiana and perhaps her most important promoter of draft 
horses, is James Crouch of Lafayette, Indiana. Mr. Crouch 
is of English birth, and came to this country with his parents 
in childhood. They early settled in the state of Indiana and 
Mr. Crouch became identified with the group of breeders of 
purebred livestock that centered around the little town of Lafay- 
ette. In 1888 he made his first importation of Belgian horses, 
but his sales were small for several years. The stallions were 
mated to the rather gangling first cross Percheron mares that 
occurred so frequently in his vicinity, with very excellent effect 
on the conformation and draftiness of the resulting colts. The 
efforts of the Belgian government about this time to subsidize 
draft breeding and to build up their native stock, forced Mr. 
Crouch to pay higher prices than the demand for the breed in 
America had hitherto warranted. This seriously hampered his 
work for a number of years, but he never faltered in his sup- 
port of the breed of his choice. In the showyards of the 90's 
his exhibits made considerable headway in winning popularity 
for this type of horse. When his son George became a partner 
in the business, Percherons and German Coachers were added, 
and later other stock, but the elder Mr. Crouch has always 
maintained his loyalty to the breed he originally chose. 

Practically all the Belgian championships of the International 
in the early years were won by this firm and such animals as 
Richelieu and Mon Gros have wielded a broad and substantial 
influence in breed betterment. In 1912, 1913 and 1916 he 
showed a six horse team in which Belgians shared the honors 
with Percherons, and first prize on this hitch was received in 
1912 and 1916. About 1912 he and his son extended their 
interests to Herefords and, their herd has been prominent at the 
Ohio Valley shows and the International. Many of the best 



120 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

of the animals came from the famous Van Natta herd which 
was purchased in its entirety on the retirement of Mr. Frank 
Van Natta. 

Mr. Crouch is a pioneer of precious pattern. He has main- 
tained an interest throughout his entire career in the promotion 
of agricultural knowledge, and has on many occasions coop- 
erated with Purdue University in breeding demonstration and 
experimental ventures. His efforts have done much to popular- 
ize draft horse breeding and his exhibits at the International and 
other large fairs have builded him a lasting reputation. 




J. CROUCH 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 121 

OVERLORD OF OAKLAWN 

43. The breaking of the boundless acres of the virgin prairies 
of the midwest, the hauling to market of its fertile rewards and 
the crowding traffic of the youthful cities of nineteenth century 
America developed a need for draft forces that eastern agricul- 
turists and eastern industries ha-d failed to realize. The hardy 
light-boned horse that hitherto had served for labor, road and 
track, lacked the latent qualities to meet the situation, and in 
the early 50's progressive American agriculturists brought from 
the older hemisphere the fundaments of a type more definitely 
adapted to the immediate necessity. 

Clearest visioned among the caterers to the new need was 
Mark Wentworth Dunham of Oaklawn Farm some five miles 
south of Elgin, Illinois. Born June 22, 1842, he early saw the 
success of old Louis Napoleon and others of the pioneer French 
blood to reach this country, so in 1870 he acquired the mas- 
sively spread gray stallion with whitish mane, whose name Suc- 
cess was fortunate omen of his service to Oaklawn, and the sur- 
rounding country side. From this simple beginning, a rapidly 
growing business developed. The old brick house that had been 
pioneer home was transformed into an office and clerks busily 
clicked away at typewriters the year round in maintaining the 
records of the horses that passed through Oaklawn. 

Mr. Dunham was a keen judge of equine needs and a student 
of equine type. A personal investigation extended over a num- 
ber of years convinced him that of all the horses of Frankish 
origin that came to his stables, those that came from the district 
of the old Perche were by all odds the best. The blood seemed 
to mix particularly well when crossed upon the light limbed 
mares spread over the corn country, and so successful were the 
half bloods that wherever a stallion once went another was 
demanded in its place. Mr. Dunham's keenness of judgment 
permitted him to recognize, while the horses were still in France 



122 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

and in the prime of their breeding age, the animals that were 
to contribute to the ultimate perfection of the Percheron ideal, 
and by fearless investment he secured for America the very best 
of the Percheron blood. Of the record of his successes with 
Brilliant 1271, Brilliant 3d, Seducteur and Marathon, all of 
most potent heritage, of Villers, Theudis, and a host of others, 
one can tell much, and under his shrewd judgment and careful 
selection, Oaklawn not only rivalled but for many years excelled 
the best of the French breeders in contributing to the advance 
of the Percheron type, 

Mr. Dunham was a man of real democracy and possessed a 
persuasive ability to awaken interest in others. He was at home 
in palace or hovel and had the unconscious knack of putting 
every one at ease. In the late 90's when importation was diffi- 
cult Mr, Dunham visited Richard Wolf at Streator to seek 
young horses bred from an Oaklawn foundation. Until after 
midnight he visited, talking endlessly of horse and draft. Tem- 
porary emergencies forced him to sleep in the hired man's bed, 
and he drove through the bottomless Illinois mud to town leav- 
ing Mr. Wolf with the impression that kings could not have 
done better. It was this happy adaptability and cheerful facing 
of disagreeable situations that laid the foundation of his suc- 
cess. He was the greatest salesman ever in the stallion business, 
selling four or five horses to separate buyers at once, and -divin- 
ing with uncanny accuracy just the price his buyer wanted to 
pay and just the type of horse he wanted to be shown. 

Mr. Dunham's untimely death in 1899 came at the prime of 
his career. It occurred as a result of blood poisoning brought 
on by the examination of an infected hoof. His achievements 
in founding and upbuilding the Percheron industry have been 
passed to the future in the able hands of his son WiRTH, the 
present master of Oaklawn. 




MARK W. DUNHAM 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 123 

A FASHIONER OF CLYDESDALES 

44. CoL. Robert Holloway wrought a work in agriculture 
an-d livestock breeding such as has fallen to the lot of few men. 
For years he was a commanding figure in both the Shorthorn 
and Clydesdale trade, a man whose natural endowments placed 
him considerably above the average of his fellows. He pos- 
sessed a most steadfast yet varied personality. The obituary 
published at the time of his death characterized him as a humani- 
tarian, sociologist and Christian gentleman, but that only told 
of his qualities in part. 

CoL. Holloway was born in Bourbon Co., Kentucky, of Vir- 
ginian descent. He was educated at the Kentucky Military Insti- 
tute and following his graduation was given the chair of Mathe- 
matics at that institution. In 1851 he graduated with honors 
in law from the Transylvania University, beginning his practice 
the same year at Monmouth, 111. His inherent love of the land 
soon led him to the acquisition and development of the rich 
prairies of Warren county. At one time he owned more than 
7,000 acres which completely monopolized his time. He founded 
the town of Alexis near one of his farms, an-d in early years 
was largely interested in city property. Once his land was 
acquired, he became obsessed with his livestock. The Shorthorn 
first claimed his attention and in honor of the breed he christ- 
ened his estate Durham Lawn. In 1876 he held one of the 
really historic sales of the breed in Chicago, securing an average 
of $1,087 on over sixty head. 

His imperishable contribution to husbandry, however, was 
through his Clydesdales. The foundations of his stud were 
obtained in 1873. He proceeded to Scotland where he made a 
thorough personal study of Clydesdale types and acquired as 
keen an understanding of the excellencies of the Scotch draft 
horse as has been the opportunity of any American. His col- 
lection of mares grew to large proportions, and at one time he 



124 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

maintained the largest Clydesdale stud on either continent. His 
Scotch studies led him to pin his faith first of all to the foot, 
ankle and limb, and in Cedric, son of the famous Prince of 
Wales, he obtained his ideal type of sustaining figure, prepo- 
tence, and longevity. He placed wearing qualities before all 
other things in a draft horse. 

His successful attainment of his ideals attracted the attention 
of both continents, and stallions and mares bred at Durham 
Lawn were exported to Scotland to exert a marked influence on 
the course of breeding and showyard history in the native 
haunts of the breed. Few breeders have been able more fully 
to realize their ideal in the production of animal types. Mr. 
HoLLOWAY held pronounced opinions on the development of 
his animals. His young stuff habitually appeared in the show 
ring in the lightest of flesh, his maxim being to grow his horses 
before he fattened them. Such procedure doubtless added 
years to the length of service of the animals he produced, but 
he ultimately carried it to an extreme that permitted his rivals 
in breed promotion, R.B. Ogilvie (6), and N. P. Clarke (45), 
to gain advantage of him during his later years in the show yard. 
His death April 17, 1906, marked the close of a long career, 
characterized by a loyal and strict adherence to the draft 
standard. 

Col. Holloway was personally a most lovable man. He pos- 
sessed an ardent intensity of nature, and a courageous, yet 
tender, chivalry that marked him a knight of the latter day. He 
was an intellectual giant among the figures connected with live- 
stock breeding. Few could equal him in elegant diction, whether 
used in speech or manuscript. Unfortunately during his later 
years, he developed a distaste for writing that prevented his con- 
veying to paper the vast stores of draft lore he had acquired 
throughout his long experience. Through the columns of The 
Breeder's Gazette, Col. Holloway presented a series of articles 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 125 

on the Clydesdale horse in reply to a vigorous attack made by 
an English correspondent, that have become classics of livestock 
literature. He lived a deep religious life and was an ardent 
student of modern sociological thought. CoL. Holloway was 
one of the most remarkable men in his depth of nature and his 
completeness of idealism that has existed in American agricul- 
ture. 



126 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

MASTER OF MEADOWLAWN 

45. The founder of the purebred livestock industry in Minne- 
sota was Nehemiah Parker Clarke. His birthplace was Hub- 
bardstown, Mass., April 8, 1836, and a part of his boyhood was 
spent in Kentucky, but in 1853 he set his face to the west, and 
for three years lived in Fond-du-lac, Wis., learning the methods 
of western business and acquiring a small cash surplus to per- 
mit him to make the beginnings for himself. At twenty years 
of age he established at St. Cloud, Minn., the retail hardware 
business, which grew into a general store and then a general 
business predominantly devoted to lumbering. 

He was fortunate in securing a number of very profitable 
contracts from the government, and based on these he developed 
a string of stores and outfitting plants, a series of real estate 
centers and a wealth of minor enterprises. Mr. Clarke was 
one of the "star routers," that coterie of men who secured the 
contract to carry the government mails by stage. He himself 
was the first man to drive a coach out of St. Cloud, with an 
ultimate destination west of the Missouri River. For a term 
of years he operated large ox trains to handle freight from St. 
Paul to the Black Hills district of the Dakotas. Furthermore 
he was one of the first men ever to drive beef on the hoof from 
the southwest ranges to the government lands of the northwest. 
Through these various activities and by unerring selection in 
the choice of lieutenants, Mr. Clarke developed a very large 
business. In the late 80's his annual lumber sales ran above 
$150,000,000 a year, greater than that of any rival. 

Meanwhile his agricultural interests were developing. In the 
vicinity of St. Cloud he took advantage of every opportunity 
to secure parcels of land, and he equipped his principal hold- 
ing, Meadow Lawn Farm, with a splendid stud of Clydesdales, 
a champion herd of Shorthorns, and, later an unexcelled herd 
of Galloways. He became the greatest breeder of his period 




N. P. CLARKE 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 127 

in all three breeds, while for America he is perhaps the greatest 
Galloway breeder of all time. For many years he was presi- 
dent of the Clydesdale Association and devoted largely of his 
energies to its promotion. He was president of the Minnesota 
Board of Agriculture, and under his administration secured the 
presentation of the Minnesota State Fair Grounds by Ramsey 
county and a state appropriation of $150,000 to equip it. When 
the development of the program resulted in a $110,000 shortage 
he used his own personal check lo carry the indebtedness until 
the legislature reimbursed him. 

Mr. Clarke was chairman of the committee of eighteen on 
the livestock interests at the Columbian Exposition, and was the 
first man to make its wants known in Washington. His Clydes- 
dales were high in the monies, rivalling the entries of Mr. Ogil- 
viE (6) and Col. Holloway (44). He imported large numbers 
of this breed to furnish the breeders of the state with purebred 
stallions. Many of his horses were sold on ten years' time, and 
the ruinous years of the mid-nineties left him with much unne- 
gotiable paper. Like Mr. Ogilvie, Mr. Clarke believed in the 
ultimate supremacy of the Darnley stock, and while he lived to 
see its ascendancy, he failed to know of its almost complete 
dominance of the Scots' draft world. His Shorthorns were 
superb. For a period of twenty years scarcely a herd of promi- 
nence was found in the north and central west that did not boast 
one or two animals of Meadow Lawn blood, while the names of 
Justice, Ringmaster, Dorothea 2d and Snowbird (dam of Fair 
Acres Sultan) are writ large on the Shorthorn showyard scroll. 
His Galloways completely dominated the gatherings of the late 
years of the last and the opening years of this century, and the 
Welcomes and Claras of Meadow Lawn provided a blood foun- 
dation for more than one Galloway pioneer. Much credit for 
his success in the field of breeding must be given to his herds- 
man and livestock manager, Leslie Smith, who contributed 



128 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

much of the foresight in purchase and genius in matings that 
brought Meadow Lawn to the fore. 

The panic of 1893 robbed Mr. Clarke of most of the fruits of 
his labor, only a few cutover lands and his herds being saved. 
Out of these, however, he once more builded himself a property. 
Mr. Clarke was a man of great reticence and few knew his inner- 
most soul and secrets. He shrank from publicity and the thou- 
sand-and-one acts of charity he performed were seldom credited 
to him. His death on June 29, 1912, robbed his state of a public 
benefactor and an indefatigable citizen. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 129 

THE LAIRD OF NETHERHALL 

46. The shrewdest practitioner in animal types and bloodlines 
since the earliest masters, perhaps the shrewdest of all because 
his material already had passed the refiner's fire, was the Laird 
of Netherhall, Andrew Montgomery. Born in the late forties of 
the last century, he was attaining manhood when the superlative 
Prince of Wales (673) was foaled, and grew into his indepen- 
dence in husbandry as this founder of bloodlines developed his 
prestige in showyard and breeding paddock. But even as he 
shaped his career as a breeder of Clydesdales, the star of Darnley 
shone on his firmament, and he was called to make the decision 
the master must always make — what materials, what blood he 
should use. In spite of the enormous prices and popularity of the 
Prince of Wales' sons, he allied himself with the Darnley blood. 
Rightly had he interpreted the brocwl successes of Darnley's 
daughters to the cover of Prince of Wales, rightly did he reason 
that some son of Darnley must transmit the same merits that the 
daughters had bequeathed. As a yearling he acquired Macgregor, 
bluntly declaring at the outset that he had found what he sought. 
And he builded well. A new type of draught economy arose in 
the Macgregor progeny, and a new supreme justice of the Clydes- 
dale court arose in the land. The genius of Netherhall's laird 
overshadowed the pronouncements of those noble veterans, David 
Riddell and Lawrence Drew. 

Montgomery's ultimate triumph was founded in the acquiring 
of Baron's Pride. This latter horse, foaled May 8, 1890, sprang 
from the loins of Darnley's rugged grandson. Sir Everard, leading 
showyard sire of his generation. Darnley fathered three notable 
sons, Macgregor, already mentioned, Flashwood and Topgallant. 
Although of powerful make, the last named was the least known 
of these in his day, but through his son Sir Everard and Andrew 
Montgomery's skillful booking of Baron's Pride, he was the 
choice of the three to carry forward the torch of improvement. 



130 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Almost immediately Baron's Pride became the sire par excel- 
lence, his progeny sweeping show after show. Only twice was his 
supremacy threatened, once by his son and once by that peerless 
grandson of the Prince of Wales, Hiawatha. In his twenty-three 
years of life his blood made contacts that six years after his death 
link him to ninety percent of the living registered animals of his 
breed. During his career he earned upwards of $150,000 in ser- 
vice fees and showyard monies, and through the leasing of his 
sons, Andrew Montgomery not only nearly monopolized the stal- 
lion industry of Scotland, but by his genius so concentrated, so 
focussed the excellencies of the Darnley-Prince of Wales heritage, 
that it breeds on and on to the permanent and increasing improve- 
ment of the breed as a whole. 

Through his countless leases of Baron's Pride's sons, through 
his personal extension and visitation of America, Canada and the 
European continent, he has done more to further the breed's 
development than any single figure since its establishment. He 
has visited the International and been breed arbiter at Toronto 
and St. Paul. His will was indomitable, his wit and judgment 
keen. To Andrew Montgomery more than to any individual 
living or dead is due the great constructive progress in Clydesdale 
type since the middle 70's, and the crystallizing of the bloodlines 
that make Clydesdale breeding a work of almost scientific preci- 
sion. His death in 1912, separated only a few months from the 
demise of Baron's Pride, abruptly sundered personal bonds that 
linked Clydesdale lovers of every land to Netherhall. 




ANDREW MONTGOMERY 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 131 

BREWER AND BREEDER 

47. A real contributor to the science of livestock husbandry 
was Capt. Frederick Pabst of Milwaukee, Wis., prominent 
brewer and head of the Pabst Brewing Co. Capt. Pabst was one 
of the first men in the west to utilize brewers' grains as the major 
portion of the ration fed to the several hundred steers annually 
fattened on his farm, and thus became a pioneer in an industry 
which has reached rather large proportions in brewing centers. 
Having effectively demonstrated the value of these byproduct 
grains for beef production, he built up a herd of purebred 
Jerseys, and demonstrated its value to produce milk. 

Capt. Pabst was born March 28, 1836, at Nicolausreith in the 
Thueringen Forest of Germany. When but twelve years of age 
his family emigrated to America, coming first to Milwaukee, but 
settling shortly afterwards in Chicago. Here financial reverses 
to his father and the death of his mother (1849) forced him to 
earn his own living. His first position was that of bellboy in a 
hotel, on a salary of S5.00 per month and board. Here he worked 
for three years, and then became a cabin boy on the Goodrich 
line on the Great Lakes. His services were so faithful and his 
progress so energetic that at the age of twenty-one years he 
became captain of the steamer Sunbeam. 

In 1862 Capt. Pabst married Miss Marie Best, daughter of 
Philip Best of Milwaukee, and shortly thereafter renounced his 
sailor's life to invest all his savings in the brewery of his father- 
in-law, in which place he took up active work. Three years 
later the firm was christened Philip Best & Co., and Capt. 
Pabst became both leader and manager. In 1873, when incor- 
poration occurred, the yearly production totalled 100,000 barrels 
of beer. 

Capt, Pabst was an incessant laborer. In 1888 his partner, 
Emil Schandein, died, leaving the entire management of the 
gigantic institution upon Capt. Pabst's shoulders. So broad 



132 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

were they, however, that one year later, the annual capacity of 
the brewery passed the 500,000 barrel mark, and the stockhold- 
ers of the company by unanimous vote changed the name from 
the Philip Best Brewery to the Pabst Brewing Co., electing 
Capt. Pabst president. From this position Capt. Pabst 
branched out in several lines, being made president of the Wis- 
consin National Bank, and a director of the Milwaukee Mechan- 
ic's Insurance Co. 

About 1870 he purchased a farm of 200 acres near the village 
of Wauwatosa, three miles west of Milwaukee. Here he indulged 
himself to the limit in his love for livestock, agriculture and 
outdoor life. Many of the horses used at the Brewery were 
bred and raised on the farm, and he made several large impor- 
tations of Percheron breeding stock from France. His first 
importation was made in 1884 and he entered the showring 
immediately to become a most successful breeder and competi- 
tor. He was immeasurably fond of his trotting and saddle 
horses, and he drove and rode considerably, both at his farm 
and in Milwaukee. 

Capt. Pabst was a man of spontaneous generosity, filled with 
civic pride and a helpful interest in public affairs. In 1889 
the G. A. R. held its annual reunion at Milwaukee, and rather 
than permit the veterans to pay any admission to the Lake Front 
grandstand, in order to view the mock naval battle there staged, 
he subscribed an enormous sum of money, above S10,000, rather 
than see even one old soldier pay a penny admission. His death 
occurred in 1907. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 133 

A HERCULES OF THE HORSE BLOCK 

48. Perhaps the most commanding figure in the Chicago horse 
market during its most prosperous years was that of CoL. John 
Sidney Cooper. Col. Cooper was born in Chicago in March, 
1842, of combined English and Irish parentage. He was edu- 
cated in the Wilder School in Chicago and began his business 
career at fifteen years of age with the railroads, working first 
as a brakeman for the Illinois Central and afterward as a pas- 
senger conductor on the Chicago & Alton, the latter relation 
continuing fourteen years. In 1871 he took a contract for street 
cleaning in Chicago and established stables in the square 
enclosed by Michigan and Indiana avenues, and Adams and 
Monroe streets. Here he conducted a general teaming business, 
working in the vicinity of 150 horses. He also became inter- 
ested in the boarding and sale of horses, the latter feature grow- 
ing to such a degree that in 1885 he came to the Union Stock- 
yards and engaged in a strictly commission business for the 
sale of horses andl mules. 

Col. Cooper was the first to inaugurate the vending of horses 
by auctioneering methods on the Chicago market, a device which 
vastly increased the volume of business possible for him to 
handle. In 1894, when the horse exchange was organized, he 
was elected president, and retained that position until his death 
in 1917. His business prospered in Chicago to such a degree 
that he found it possible to open a branch sales stable in the 
Union Stockyar^ds in South Omaha where he did a large busi- 
ness in the sale of range horses. One of his most interesting 
undertakings consisted in securing suitable mounts for the Chi- 
cago mounted police force. CoL. Cooper not only chose a 
beautiful yet serviceable type, but he also devoted the latter 
years of his life to the constant improvement and replacement 
of the animals thus selected. 



134 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Col. Cooper was a director of the International from the 
date of its inception until his death, and was appointed, by Mr. 
Ogilvie as assistant superintendent of the horse department, an 
appointment later confirmed by election of the directors. He 
was especially interested in the light horse show, and contributed 
largely of his energy to the development and staging of the 
night horse exhibition. His death was in the harness, as he 
suffered from an apoplectic stroke at the close of the 1917 Inter- 
national. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 135 

A CATTLE CRUSADER FROM CALEDON 

49. One of the pioneer managers of the great cattle holdings 
of the boom days of cowboy and grassland was MuRDO Macken- 
zie. Born in Tain, Scotland, in 1850, he gained his first experi- 
ence as plowboy and farm laborer. In his late teens he entered 
into an apprenticeship in the North of Scotland Bank, studying 
at the same time in a lawyer's office. From this position he 
turned quite naturally to the assistant factorship of the 500,000 
acre estate of Sir Charles Ross at Balnagowan, County of Ross. 
Here he was placed in charge of the agricultural interests in 
particular, although he retained an agency for the North of 
Scotland Bank. It was part of his duties to attend to the rents 
and leases of some 500 towns on Sir Charles' estate, in addi- 
tion to handling the cropping and grazing lands. 

In 1885 he crossed the waters to America and became man- 
ager of one of the ranches of the Prairie Cattle Co., in Colorado. 
Four years later he succeeded Mr. W. J. Tod to the manager- 
ship of the entire holdings of the company in southeast Colorado, 
what is now Oklahoma, and in the Panhandle district. On Jan- 
uary 1, 1891, he was called to the Matador Land & Cattle Co., 
and assumed the position of manager of its extensive grazing 
lands and herds in Colorado and Texas. Mr. Mackenzie 
brought to bear on the big range problems all of those instincts 
that have made the Scot truly constructive from an agricultural 
standpoint wherever he has gone. At the time that he took 
charge the herd consisted of about 65,000 head, and the total 
holdings were reputed to be worth about $6,000,000. About 
750,000 acres were operated by the company on its southwest 
range, 500,000 acres being in one parcel and 250,000 acres bein^ 
in the other. In addition to this the company leased 450,000 
acres in Dakota and 150,000 acres in Canada. 

The original cattle were of the distinct Texas type, southern 
stock graded up to some extent by the use of Shorthorn blood. 



136 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

The bulls used in the herd were entirely grade, some purchased 
in Kansas, but the majority produced in the herd itself. Mr. 
Mackenzie's first move was to cull out all inferior cows and 
to replace the bulls with purebreds. For a number of years 
he used Hereford, Shorthorn and Aberdeen-Angus bulls, all 
three, but he gradually increased the proportion of the former 
until all of the steers marketed were whitefaced. In the later 
nineties he established a purebred herd from 300 to 350 cows, 
from which he proposed to breed the extra Hereford bulls he 
needed. He particularly fancied the Anxiety blood of Gudgell 
& Simpson and drew strongly on them as well as on other Mis- 
souri-Kansas breeders. He adopted a policy of paying about 
$100 to $250 for bulls for general range service, while he paid 
as high as $1,000 for sires for the purebred herd. On the 
average he secured about 150 bulls annually from the pure- 
bred herd for use on his range cows. The bulls were first put 
to service when two years old and were turned to the herd in 
the ratio of one bull to twenty-five cows. ' 

When Mr. Mackenzie took charge of the herd, the bulk of 
the steers were of such an inferior nature that they were sold 
as two-year-olds to the cattlemen of Dakota, Montana and 
Wyoming to be run as stockers and in part fattened. The 
returns on such animals were insufficient to pay the costs of 
production, and it was to meet the demands of the Kansas and 
Missouri feeders that the grade bulls were replaced by pure- 
breds. Mr. Mackenzie was really a pioneer in this work and 
effectively demonstrated not only that purebred cattle were suc- 
cessful under the conditions of the range, but also that high 
breeding was by no means necessarily accompanied by unpro- 
ductiveness. 

On Jan. 1, 1912, he proceeded to Brazil as general manager 
of the Brazil Land, Cattle & Packing Co. He gathered together 
one of the greatest herds of range animals under one manage- 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 137 

ment in Brazil, some 250,000 head all told. These were dis- 
tributed over about 9,000,000 acres, 1,250,000 acres being in 
Meneas-Gereas and the remainder in the province of Matto- 
grosso. Backed by Wilson & Co. capital, he founded one of 
Brazil's first packing-houses, and was appointed vice-president 
of the Brazil organization. 

He returned to America in 1919 and took up an advisory 
position with Thomas E. Wilson particularly to handle pro- 
ducer relations for Wilson & Co. Mr. Mackenzie has arisen 
from the position of plowboy to that of controlling more cattle 
than any other man in the world, and his example can furnish 
only encouragement and inspiration to young men who will 
study his career. 



138 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A PREACHER OF PORK 

50. The pre-eminent producer of barrows at the International 
Livestock Exposition has been the firm of John Francis & Son, 
New Lenox, 111. Their record in the showyard has never been 
equalled by other breeder, and as a measure of their ability, both 
in the selection of breeding animals and in the fitting and finish- 
ing of showyard types, the International grand championship 
on single barrows has fallen to their herd four times. The 
honors came at as widely separated intervals as 1909, 1912, 
1913 and 1916, while many ribbons within the Poland-China 
breed show were won in intervening years. Four purples were 
also secured on groups of three barrows, the 1910, 1912, 1913 
and 1916 Internationals furnishing the occasions. Champion- 
ship on carcasses was captured at the 1906, 1908, 1909 and 1912 
Internationals. 

Mr. John R. Francis, the founder of the firm, was born Jan- 
uary 8, 1843, near New Lenox, 111. His education was received 
in the rural schools of Illinois, and he began the breeding of 
Poland-China swine in 1872. In 1894 he was elected sheriff 
of Will Co., and succeeded during this period in obtaining title 
to much land, due to the foreclosure of mortgages resultant 
from the business reverses of those years. He managed to reap 
a very tidy profit, and to become quite a financial influence in 
his county. In 1898 he retired from political office and spent 
his remaining years in improving his Poland-China stocks. Mr. 
Francis was equally successful with the small, middle and large 
types of Poland-China, and won honors in the showring with 
each kind. Most of his winnings were obtained upon the so- 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 139 

called middle type, however, and he became interested in the 
big boned kind only during his very last years. 

Mr. Francis' greatest service to husbandry lay in the adver- 
tising he gave the Poland-China breed as a result of his show- 
ring record. Until he entered the lists, no breed of swine had 
been able successfully to compete with the Berkshire, and he 
did much to put the Poland-China on its feet, from the stand- 
point of the showyard and block. The work he began so suc- 
cessfully is now being carried forward by his son, Howard 
Francis, as his death occurred March 28, 1913. 



140 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

FINANCIAL BACKER OF THE OLD CATTLE KINGS 

51. One of the most active commission men -during the boom 
days of the cattle range, and one of the broadest financiers of 
the Wyoming and Montana operators was Joseph Rosenbaum 
of the firm of Rosenbaum Bros. & Co. Mr. Rosenbaum was 
born at Schwabach, Bavaria, April 1, 1838, and came to America 
with his brother, MORRIS, in 1850. His father had preceded 
them and had established a business at Dubuque, Iowa. When 
twenty years of age, in partnership with his brother, he estab- 
lished a general store at Cedar Falls, Iowa, but in June, 1862, 
enlisted in Company B of the 31st Iowa infantry. He served 
until the close of the war, and on his discharge engaged in the 
handling of livestock and grain at Waverly, Iowa, shipping to 
the Chicago market. In connection with this work the brothers 
established in 1867 the State Bank of Waverly and the State 
Bank of Nashua, some thirty miles to the north of Waverly. 
Morris Rosenbaum was cashier of the Nashua branch and 
Joseph Rosenbaum was cashier of the Waverly institution. In 
1874 their interests were disposed of to other parties, and the 
two brothers established in Chicago the livestock commission 
firm of Rosenbaum Bros., later incorporated as Rosenbaum 
Bros. & Co. Joseph Rosenbaum was president of both organi- 
zations and was later president of two branch subsidiary com- 
panies which he organized, the Livestock Commission Company 
and the J. Rosenbaum Grain Co. In his later years Mr. Rosen- 
baum became an extensive operator on the Board of Trade. 

In the brightest years of the range cattle industry, Mr. Rosen- 
Baum loaned enormous sums to a number of the Montana cattle 
men. In the spring and summer of 1886 he had in the vicinity 
of one million dollars tied up in the herds of a number of 
Montana operators, the best known being Conrad Kohrs (53). 
The severe winter wreaked havoc with these m^n, Mr. Kohrs 
losing approximately 32,000 out of 35,000 animals. As spring 




JOSEPH ROSENBAUM 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 141 

opened up Mr. Rosenbaum proceeded to Helena where he called 
the group of debtors together. Most of the men were certain 
that he had come out only to seize the remainder of their broken 
property, and were utterly unable to understand him when he 
asked them how much money they would want. Yet when their 
difficulties finally were crystallized into an appreciable form, Mr. 
Rosenbaum loaned them an additional million, and ultimately 
received full payment for the entire debt. Some years ago 
when he faced ruin on the Exchange, a friend made a special 
trip to Helena, called together the men who had so thoroughly 
benefited from Mr. Rosenbaum's faith a quarter century previ- 
ous, and secured from them a loan of well above a million 
dollars, that not only staved off ruin for Mr. Rosenbaum, but 
made it possible for him to reap a large profit. His death 
occurred May 22, 1919, at Pasadena, California. 



142 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

THE ROUNDUP ON BEAR CREEK 

52. This landscape showing the "Roundup" on the ranch of 
the Pioneer Cattle Co. in the Bear Creek Valley, Dawson Co., 
Mont., was presented by Mr. Kohrs (53) upon the occasion of 
completing fifty years of ranching in Montana, in 1913. 

A PATRIARCH OF THE NORTHWEST RANGE 

53. The grand old man of northwestern cattle progress and 
prosperity was Conrad Kohrs, president of the Pioneer Cattle 
Co. of Montana. Mr. Kohrs was one of the leaders in the 
introduction of the Hereford to the northwest range and wielded 
an enormous influence in placing beef production on a firm 
financial foundation. He was born in 1835 in Schleswig-Hol- 
stein, and came to America about 1850. He first settled in Iowa 
but in 1863 went west to rise to prominence during the early 
days of the cattle boom. His original cattle were improved 
by the use of Shorthorn bulls but with the coming of the Here- 
fords, he became a firm believer in the use of the Hereford top 
cross. His original selection of Herefords comprised seven 
head, secured from the Swan Land & Cattle Co., in 1884. His 
herd at this time was one of the best groups of non-pedigree 
Shorthorns to be found in the west. These were accumulated 
on his Sun River Range and descended from good cattle he had 
picked up along the ol-d California and Oregon trails. They 
were first maintained in Deer Lodge Valley but due to the 
shortness of the pasture, he was obliged to move them in 1878 
into the Sun River country. In 1879 he branded 4,900 cattle 
on this ranch. 

When the Herefords were introduced, Mr. Kohrs retained 
the best cross-bred bull calves for breeding purposes, while the 
first cross steers gave him great satisfaction. The cattle were 
earlier maturing than any he had previously had, and he found 




CONRAD KOHRS 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 143 

less difficulty in shrinkage and waste during the long ship to 
Chicago. When he first started marketing, he was forced to 
drive from Montana down to Laramie City or Cheyenne on the 
Union Pacific, a distance too great to permit their delivery in 
good condition and at a satisfactory price in Chicago. The 
construction of the Northern Pacific across Montana induced 
Mr. Kohrs to move his cattle to Tongue River, some 150 miles 
south of Miles City. He made his first Chicago shipment in 
1882, consisting of 400 four-year-old Shorthorn steers. The 
cattle were a long time on the road and suffered from a heavy 
shrink but they weighed 1,585 pounds at Chicago and brought 
the top price for range cattle, S5.85. Later in the year he 
shipped 700 three-year-olds, of mixed breeding, that averaged 
1,365 pounds, but received $5.85 for these as well. 

The severe season of 1886-1887 practically ruined Mr. Kohrs. 
His herd was reduced over 90 percent by death from the cold 
and starvation. Financial help at this time from Joseph Rosen- 
BAUM (51) of Chicago enabled him to pull through, however, 
and in the 90's Mr. Kohrs was able to purchase the entire pure- 
bred herd of the Childs' estate, a good lot of cattle descended 
from the stock of Adams Earl. About this time, Mr. Kohrs' 
son-in-law, Hon. John M. Boardman, became associated in the 
management of the Pioneer Cattle Co. and took charge of the 
breeding of these Herefords. Due to a dispute between the 
herdsman and the administrator of the Childs' estate, the pedi- 
grees for the cattle were not secured, and the animals were 
therefore bred as a non-pedigree herd, with registered bulls con- 
stantly in service. This herd usually numbered about 300 head, 
while a purebred Shorthorn herd numbering 700 head was also 



144 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

maintained. During the later years of feeding, only cross-bred 
Hereford-Shorthorn steers were produced, Mr. Kohrs believing 
firmly in the first cross for feeding purposes. These cross- 
breds were obtained by using Hereford bulls on cows of the 
Shorthorn foundation. About 1910 Mr. Boardman became gen- 
eral manager of the C-K ranch, and Mr. Kohrs curtailed 
slightly his operations. His death occurred in June, 1920, but 
he still lives rich in memories and inspiration to the veteran 
cattleman and stock owner. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 145 

A BELOVED TEUTON 

54. One of the rare souls found among the commission men 
during the early days of the development of the commission 
business at the Yards was Louis Keeper. He was born July 1, 
1844, in Mannheim, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and came to 
America as a boy of fourteen. His only education was received 
in the German schools as almost upon his arrival in Pennsyl- 
vania, he began trading, first from a pack on his back and later 
in livestock. His original location was in Allegheny, but in 
1863 he proceeded to Pittsburg, and began buying stock 
throughout eastern Ohio to ship to the Pittsburg market. In 
1873 he came west to Chicago, and entered into partnership 
with Levi B. Doud in the commission firm of Doud & Keeper. 
Shipment of live cattle and sheep to England was coming into, 
its own at that time, and the young firm became one of the 
largest exporters. Their various interests grew so that in the 
early nineties they were buying more cattle than any single 
packer operating on the Chicago market. Mr. Keeper became 
a large farm owner in his later years, having one holding at 
Oregon, 111., and another in Mason Co., 111., along the Sanga- 
mon river. He fed cattle extensively at various distilleries, 
particularly at Pekin and Peoria, handling as many as 10,000 
to 12,000 head a year. He married in 1869 and was the father 
of nine children, seven of whom are living. He was succeeded 
in his business by his sons, Edward T. Keeper and Arthur 
Keeper. Mr. Louis Keeper died Aug. 19, 1916. 

He was a kindly man of the quiet affectionate disposition that 
loved everyone and instinctively forced everyone to love him. 



146 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Charitable to a high degree, every worthy cause presented to 
him enlisted his support. More perfectly than any modern, he 
represented the type of German that our prewar literature ideal- 
ized, the kind that was absolutely incompatible with the deeds 
of the early war. His optimism, his good nature, and his cheery 
example made his death particularly touching to his friends 
and business associates. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 147 

A BERKSHIRE BARON 

55. The development of swine interests at the International 
Livestock Show laid almost exclusively during the first 
seventeen exhibitions in the hands of Mr. Andrew J. Lovejoy, 
charter member of the International Association and one time 
president. He was born December 5, 1844, and reared on River- 
side Farm, flanking the little Rock River, near Roscoe, 111. Of 
robust frame, he spent his early years on the farm and assisted 
his father in the agricultural operations then customary in 
Winnebago. When twenty-one years of age, he went to Chicago 
where he obtained employment as a driver of a notion wagon. 
This outfit soon developed into a huge four horse truck from 
which he did a prosperous business across northern Illinois. 
While on the road he found plenty of opportunity to think about 
farming and rural problems, so when he became connected with 
a wholesale drygoods concern in Chicago, he laid away from 
his savings the money with which to buy the family home. As he 
was possessed of a keen eye for those characteristics that denote 
strong breeding, he chose the Berkshire for his chief breed on 
the farm, and purchased a boar and sow as foundations, for 
$50. He advertised extensively and succeeded in developing 
breeding animals that justified the claims of his advertisements. 
In the early years of the International he made consistently 
strong shows, winning the grand championship in 1901 on his 
boar Combination. This winning gave him a reputation that 
attracted a numerous clientele of buyers to his farm. He was 
selected by showyard managers to judge swine, and breeders' 
and farmers' organizations chose him to address their meetings. 
He became a contributor to the farm journals and a valued 
lecturer before agricultural college students. In 1902 his annual 
auction developed an average of $107.75 per head, at that time 
the highest average ever attained by the breed. 



148 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

In this same year, Mr. Lovejoy secured the boar Masterpiece, 
bred by Mr. Berry of Kansas, and made a strong show with 
him at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. He was sold for 
$2,500, a record price for a representative of the breed. In 
1907 he sold one of his sons. Star Masterpiece, to Mr. W. S. 
CoRSA at public auction for $5,500. Following the Lees and 
Longfellows of Mr. Gentry's breeding, the Masterpiece blood 
was the first great new contribution. 

Mr. Lovejoy was a member of the 48th General Assembly 
of Illinois, and under Governor Yates' administration, was 
State Game Warden for four years. He was appointed to the 
Illinois State Board of Agriculture at about the same period, 
a position which he retained until. his death, November 19, 1919. 
From a local reputation, Mr. Lovejoy grew until he was known 
throughout the entire country. He was recognized and esteemed 
as a leader in his profession and his personal ability and 
breadth of acquaintance made him a notable figure among the 
swine growers of America. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 149 

HEADS OF A CATTLE HOUSE 

56-57. The firm of Ingwersen Bros., founded their business 
on a widespread acquaintance among the German settlers of 
eastern and central Iowa, gained in the pre-Civil War days. 
The two brothers were born at Hattstadt, Schleswig-Holstein, 
Germany; Henry C. (57) on May 2, 1829, and Charles H. 
(56) on July 19, 1836. The entire family came to America in 
1852, settling in Clinton Co., Iowa, just west of the town of 
Clinton. As they grew into manhood they started in the farm- 
ing business together, feeding cattle and hogs, and buying live- 
stock on the side. In 1870 and 1871, Mr. C. H. Ingwersen was 
sheriflf of Clinton Co., having previous to that time been a 
county supervisor. 

In 1872, some bad buys of livestock made it expedient for 
them to close out their Clinton interests, and they proceeded to 
Chicago where they started a straight commission business. In 
1873 a permanent partnership was formed, which business was 
maintained until their retirement in 1901. During this time they 
had built up a clientele of consignors that gave them a most 
loyal annual support. In 1919 there still remained about a 
dozen of the original customers who shipped to them in 1872. 
An Iowa feeder by the name of Harrington not only has 
shipped to them or their successors every year, but in addition, 
has never shipped a carload of livestock elsewhere. About 7,000 
carloads of livestock were handled annually by this firm at the 
height of its career. 

In 1895 they became financially interested in the Iowa Pack- 
ing Co., of Sabula, and later Clinton, Iowa. The earnings of 
the commission business were completely absorbed in order to 
maintain the packing interest and in 1900 they sold their stock 
in this venture. The following year the two brothers decided 
to retire, and their sons bought out their business and the busi- 



150 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

ness of RosENBAUM Bros. & Co., and have since conducted the 
two as one organization. 

Following retirement, Henry C. Ingwersen returned to his 
old home at Clinton, where he remained until his death in 1907. 
Charles Ingwersen, on the other hand, remained in Chicago, 
but on his death, which occurred in 1910, his body was taken 
to Lyons, a suburb of Clinton, for interment. 

The political affiliations of the two Ingwersens were always 
a matter of considerable interest to the commission men of 
Packingtown. When they first came to America they were 
staunch Republicans, but in the early 70's turned Democrats. 
However, they were again Republicans in 1896 and voted for 
McKiNLEY, but in the following years turned to the Democratic 
ticket A fruitful cause for small wagers among the old timers 
was to bet on the party affiliations of the Ingwersens as each 
new election came up, and one friend good naturedly remarked 
that "it was unfortunate that they died before they could per- 
manently decide whether they were Democrats or Republicans." 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 151 

A MONARCH OF THE FEEDLOT 

58. The most extensive maker of beef and mutton America 
has ever produced, was T. B. HoRD of Central City, Nebr. His 
grasslands covered some 20,000 acres in the richest section of 
the Cornhusker state, and he annually marketed between 10,000 
and 15,000 cattle, a similar number of sheep and over 10,000 
hogs. Whole trainloads of Central City cattle were picked up 
on his switches, which lined the Union Pacific for many miles. 
Each of his eleven separate feeding stations turned out more 
livestock in a year than were finished by the average of the big 
Nebraska feeders. Mr. Hord was a daring operator, frequently 
being a heavy loser. More than once he faced financial disaster, 
but he never faltered. His maxim for pertinacity was, "A man 
is never whipped until he's whipped inside." This combined 
with his second maxim, never to "make the same mistake twice," 
made him almost invincible. 

T. B. Hord was born at Marion, Ohio, June 15, 1850, and 
after a life of gigantic achievements, suddenly nipped by paraly- 
sis, he was there interred following his demise in Minneapolis, 
December 15, 1910. The day before his death he had left 
Central City to seek a noted Northwest specialist on nervous 
disturbances and paralytic strokes. 

Mr. Hord afforded the greatest single market for grain and 
hay in the central west. Annually such enormous quantities as 
10,000 tons of hay and 1,000,000 bushels of corn were fed in 
his yards. Of this amount only 5,000 tons of hay and 75,000 
bushels of corn were produced by him and the remainder had 
to be purchased. His demands made a lucrative business for 
several grain dealers and elevator operators, but having become 
established, they made the mistake of trying to crow4 prices on 
him too concertedly, and he secured the capital, not only to buy 
them out, but to obtain a string of elevators all across Nebraska 
and Iowa on the main trunk lines. 



152 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

The outdoor method of feeding was adopted by Mr, Hord 
as a permanent policy. His feed lots held from 200 to 300 
cattle, being ten to fifteen acres in area. In the center of each 
lot was a house to shelter the swine that followed each group 
of steers, but the cattle themselves had only a wind break on 
the north and west, usually a board fence or a line of straw- 
stacks. Overflow water from the cattle tanks was piped to the 
hog troughs and great racks capable of handling a two days' 
supply of roughage were placed on the west side of the lots 
for additional shelter. Practically no summer feeding was done, 
and each spring, as a sanitary precaution, the lots were plowed, 
planted to corn and thoroughly tilled, to make them clean for 
the following feeding period. 

Only mature cattle were handled, Mr. Hord's ideal being the 
three-year-old. In order to make as certain of this as possible, 
no cattle were put in his lots that weighed under 1,000 pounds. 
On December 31, 1904, he had 18,000 such steers in his lots, 
with a few hundred additional that were under that weight 
which ran as stockers. Large numbers of plain steers were pur- 
chased at around three cents a pound, and he obtained a spread 
of three to three and a half cents in marketing. He began cut- 
ting his cattle when they had been on feed ninety days, market- 
ing those with sufficient flesh on them, and he cut again in 120 
to 150 days, closing all out at six months. Yet his cattle always 
came to the market finished, he never believed in the warming- 
up process. So uniform was his product that whole trainloads 
run through to Chicago, were often sold on their reputation 
before they reached the market. 

Mr. Hord based his success in feeding operations on doing 
exactly the opposite of what the run of feeders did. If they 
bought and fed lightly, he would plunge heavily; when they 
indulged he abstained. He was a notable judge of men, picking 
highly trustworthy associates and employees. He believed in 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 153 

the profit sharing plan for those who worked with him, and he 
frequently indulged his generous inclinations to an extent that 
embarrassed him considerably. He was extraordinarily abhor- 
rent of business controversies and made most liberal settlements. 
He donated large sums of money to the development of Central 
City, sharing the expense of all its improvements. At the Chi- 
cago market his affable approachability made him exceedingly 
popular. Mr. Hord left Nebraska immeasurably the richer for 
his residence there, his memory will long be green in the minds 
of those privileged to know and work with him. 



154 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

THE SCOTCH DODDIE AND NO SURRENDER 

59. Few breeders of today can realize the personal courage 
and integrity of purpose necessary among the promoters of the 
newer breeds of cattle, to stem the tide of popular opposition 
from the aggressive Shorthorn supporters of the earlier days. 
Even more difficult is it to understand the anathema attached 
to any man who at that time would depart from the Shorthorn 
fold to worship new idols. A man of such courage and clarity 
of purpose was Blanford R. Pierce of Creston, Hlinois. Mr. 
Pierce was bred and reared on an Oneida county farm, his 
birth being March 11, 1832, at Groton, New York. In early 
life he and his brother learned to break and to show oxen at 
the county fairs. With the characteristic adaptability of the 
men of his day, when he came to Hlinois in 1857 he taught 
school near his farm in the winter and did carpenter work in 
the summer. From this humble beginning he became a buyer 
and shipper of grain and livestock to Chicago, and at the time 
of the big Chicago fire suffered severe monetary loss from the 
burning of many carloads of corn and wheat. In keeping with 
the practice of many another Illinois pioneer, he early adopted 
a policy of land extension, and little by little acquired the 
acreage that now makes up Woodlawn Farm. Mr. Pierce was 
a typical livestock farmer; he left the land richer than he found 
it, and he turned to all classes of livestock to obtain his results. 
He was very successful with the horses and hogs, but was not 
a proponent of dairying. He never kept but one milk cow, and 
family tradition records that one to be so excellent that its full 
span of years were spent on Woodlawn farm. 

Until 1881 Mr. Pierce was a breeder of Shorthorns, but in 
this year he switched his allegiance to the then little known 
breed of Aberdeen-Angus. He sought many of the recent impor- 
tations, and purchased about two carloads in Canada from the 
Cochrane and Mossom Boyd herds. His great ambition was 




B. R. PIERCE 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 155 

to get the best bulls of the breed, regardless of price, and these 
he obtained as fast as the opportunities arose. Prominent in 
his pedigrees appear the names of Wellington, Moon Eclipser, 
and Prince Ito, the latter purchased at $9,100. From these 
great sires and their -descendants his success was easy, and in 
1898 he formed a partnership with his son which lasted a period 
of eight years. 

In 1893 Mr. Pierce had moved to Chicago and Woodlawn 
had participated actively in the Columbian show. When the 
new International Livestock Show was conceived, Mr. Pierce 
was one of the first and most ambitious of its supporters. In 
every way possible he backed the undertaking, by taking out 
his life membership in the International association, by pre- 
paring a show herd himself, and by encouraging his friends 
in the most optimistic terms to support it. While the show 
plans were still embryonic he was asked by Mrs. Goodall, then 
editor of the Drovers Journal, to what cause she should devote 
the beautiful loving cup her paper was offering. With his eye 
to the ultimate market demand, he quickly told her to offer it 
for the champion steer. Little did he suspect at the time that 
his own steer Advance would be the winner of this trophy, and 
he was hectored good naturedly about it for several years there- 
after. 

In 1906 the dispersion sale of Woodlawn herd was held to 
permit the settlement of the partnership. The success was phe- 
nomenal and when the checks were drawn, Mr. Pierce pro- 
nounced his breeding venture by all odds both the pleasantest 
and most profitable eight years of his life. As a judge of beef 
cattle, particularly Aberdeen-Angus, Mr. Pierce was without 
peer. He excelled in the selection of "diamonds in the rough" 
and more than once surprised his son by telling of the prices 
paid for a particular load of cattle. His judgment in the case 
of Blackbird 13th was particularly striking, and when her first 



156 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

three sons, Black King of Woodlawn, Woodlawn, and Black 
Woodlawn, won breed championships, one could appreciate his 
uncanny sagacity in female selection. Similarly he bought the 
unfinished Blackbird Lassie, dam of the 1899 Trans-Mississippi 
champion, Lord Woodlawn, while the grand-dam of his cham- 
pion steer, Advance, was obtained in the roughest of condition. 
Woodlawn cattle exerted a powerful influence on Mississippi 
Valley herds, and Mr. Pierce's contribution and foresight in 
emphasizing the block test did much to carry the Aberdeen- 
Angus to its present stage of popularity. His death occurred 
in Chicago, March 29, 1909. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 157 

A FOUNDER OF HEREFORD FORTUNES 

60. High upon the roll of those superlative men who assumed 
the task of upbuilding American agriculture following the Civil 
War is written the name of William S. Van Natta. The prac- 
tical genius, the creative power, and the zest for good blood 
which characterized this Hereford pioneer made him stand in 
the foremost rank of that coterie of devoted men who fought 
the burdensome battles for breed recognition in the 80's and 
early 90's. Mr. Van Natta loved good cattle, the producer's 
kind. The low legs, broad breasts and wealth of flesh of the 
earliest white faces so caught his fancy that following the Phila- 
delphia Centennial he abandoned his old friends, the Dukes and 
Duchesses, and carried the Hereford standard till his own step 
faltered. During his thirty odd years of allegiance he con- 
tributed of his energy and finances to the fullest, with a tena- 
cious pluck and a rugged honesty that brooked no adversity. 

William S. Van Natta was prairie-bred, first seeing the 
greens of Indiana blue grass from a log cabin window, Sep- 
tember 27, 1830. His childhood earned him a perfect self- 
reliance, and he grew up in the atmosphere of the stocker range 
and feeder pen. In his earlier manhood he made a number of 
trips into the Panhandle and the old "Texas long-horn" country, 
and there gained an appreciation of western problems that made 
him an invaluable contributor to the animals destined to domi- 
nate the short grass areas. 

In the fall of 1876 he entered partnership with a banker, 
Moses W. Fowler, La Fayette, Ind., and secured in New Mexico 
a shipment of 1,500 steers for Mr. Fowler's 25,000 acre farm 
in Benton Co. From handling them he became impressed with 
the necessity for early maturity and quick finish in the face of 
rising feed stuff prices. In 1878 he purchased a Hereford bull 
from Robert Sample and the following year about thirty young 
cows and heifers from T. L. Miller. One of these was Viola, 



158 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

his first winning show cow, and the dam of his champion Viola 
4th, while another was Princess, dam of his immortal Fowler. 

During 1879 he also imported a few cows and a bull in con- 
nection with Earl & Stewart. The bull proved unsatisfactory 
so he journeyed to Maine to secure Burleigh & Bodwell's 
Tregrehan, the foundation of Mr. Van Natta's success. In 
1886 he participated in the famous "white-face invasion" of 
Kentucky with Tregrehan's son Fowler, out of his original Prin- 
cess, as head of the herd. Fowler was an extremely well bal- 
anced animal and had an exceptional show career. His blood 
proved a powerful factor in the upbuilding of Mr. Van Natta's 
herds and was doubled back and forth in numerous pedigrees. 

The Van Natta triumph came at the Louisiana Purchase 
Exposition where his aged bull. Prime Lad, and his aged cow, 
Lorna Doone, both won championships. His closing years saw 
a similar pair of champions, from Prime Lad's loins, sweep the 
circuits of 1908 and 1909, Prime Lad 9th and Margaret. His 
death occurred May 26, 1911. 

Mr. Sanders (12) pays tribute to the dogged persistency of 
Mr. Van Natta during the days of the inter-breed conflicts by a 
fitting comparison to General Grant. "Wm. S. Van Natta 
became convinced in the early 70's that the 'white faces' were 
the best beef cattle of the day, and in their cause he enlisted, 
not for 'ninety days,' but 'for the war'; and upon that line he 
fought it out to a finish that not only brought fame to himself, 
but honor to the Hereford name." 




W. S. VAN NATTA 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 159 

A HEREFORD SHOWYARD GENERAL 

61. Almost the sole survivor of that earnest hard working 
band that carried the standard of the Hereford to recognition 
and victory in the bitter breed battles of the 80's and early 90's, 
is Thomas Clark. Mr. Clark was born at Didley, Hereford- 
shire, August 28, 1842, and from the time he could take his 
first steps, was intimately connected with the creation and prog- 
ress of the whitefaced breed. His father had also been identi- 
fied with Herefords, and his grandfather, Walter Clark, was 
one of the pioneer improvers of over a century ago, breeding 
his cow stock himself, and securing his sires from the elder 
Tompkins, Galliers and Hewer. 

Thomas Clark came to America in 1866, possessed only of 
the parcel that he carried. He landed in New York, and pro- 
ceeded to a farm in Ohio where he worked for about ten weeks. 
He then obtained a position with a Cleveland butcher by the 
name of Probert, with whom he worked for three years. Fol- 
lowing this, he began butchering for himself at Elyria, Ohio, 
conducting farming operations at the same time. After two 
years, however, he foun-d it difficult to make the interests of the 
two businesses coincide, hence he abandoned his dressed beef 
trade. He secured his first Herefords in 1869, three imported 
cows, well advanced in calf that were brought over by Humphrey 
& Aston. A few months later he went to Guelph, Canada, where 
he secured a bull called Sir Arthur from F. W. Stone. 

In 1877 he came to Hlinois where he located at Beecher, in 
the neighborhood of Mr. T. L. Miller, already a Hereford 
pioneer. Mr. Clark drove across the country with him his 
little band of purebreds which at that time numbered about 
twenty-five. Three years later in partnership with Mr. Miller, 
he shipped two carloads of Herefords west to Cheyenne in order 
to introduce them to the range. The work was of a distinct 
pioneer nature, and the cattlemen were either doubtful or skep- 



160 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

tical. It required two years to sell them, the bulk of them going 
to the Swan Land & Cattle Co. This shipment, however, broke 
the ice and in later years Mr. Clark shipped large numbers of 
purebred bulls into the Cheyenne and Montana districts. Later 
he went after the southwestern trade and sold many animals 
into Kansas, the Panhandle and New Mexico. 

His showyard record began in 1869 in Ohio and Pennsyl- 
vania. In 1876 he showed his herd at the Michigan State Fair, 
meeting all the good Canadian Shorthorns. Under the adjudi- 
cation of John Miller (114) he received first prize on his herd 
over all competition. His first show in Illinois was the county 
fair at Freeport in 1877. At this time his herd only numbered 
about twenty-five head, but he husbanded its resources care- 
fully, until at the heighth of his operations, he possessed about 
150 purebred animals. His last year in the showring with any 
considerable number of animals was 1902, although at intervals 
since then he has shown one or two individuals. Mr. Clark 
was the first man to sell a Hereford bull at public auction, to 
realize as large a sum as $9,000. This was secured for the bull 
Perfection, shortly after he won at the 1901 International. 

In August, 1877, the American Hereford Herd Book was 
established under the direction of Mr. T. L. Miller, at Beecher, 
111. Thomas Clark contributed liberally of his time and infor- 
mation to the production of Volume I, and on its publication 
in 1880 succeeded personally in attracting new breeders to the 
Hereford standard. About this time breeders of Herefords 
declared war to the knife on the Shorthorns, and made exten- 
sive and organized plans to clean up the championships at the 
Lake Front Show. Numbers of breeders made enthusiastic prom- 
ises to steer a large number of their best bull calves, following 
Mr. Clark's admonition that the "gentlemen would do \.ell to 
bear in mind that if they wanted good steers they must alter 
good calves." In 1881 Mr. Clark imported for Earl & Stuart 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 161 

the extraordinary two-year-old steer called Wabash. In 1882 
this steer won the two-year-old championship, but was unable 
to go to the top of the show. As a breeder and promoter, few 
men have had a more vital influence on their chosen breed, or 
have lived to see as secure a success as Mr. Clark has achieved 
with and for the Hereford. From the start of the Internationajl 
he has been prominent in cattle circles, both as an exhibitor and 
a director. Of recent years he has been one of the two super- 
intendents of the cattle department, paying particular attention 
to steers and his own breed, and he has succeeded in making 
the steer contest without parallel in the world. 



162 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

FROM BARNSTABLE BUTCHER TO WORLD MEAT 

MERCHANT 
62. One of the pioneers of Packingtown was Gustavus 
Franklin Swift. Of English descent from the earliest Colonial 
times, Mr. Swift's birthplace was at West Sandwich, Mass., out 
on Cape Cod. He was born June 24, 1839, the grandson of 
Captain William Swift, a figure in both the Revolutionary war 
and the war of 1812. Through his mother he traced to Elder 
William Brewster of the original Plymouth colony, and to 
Thomas Prince, second Governor of Massachusetts. Mr. Swift 
came of a large family, eight boys and four girls, and early 
decided to relieve the home pressure by taking up an occupa- 
tion other than the parental one. He took the step which con- 
trolled the trend of his later years by obtaining employment 
with the town butcher of Sandwich. After mastering the details 
of the business, he opened a retail butcher shop at Barnstable, 
Mass., in 1862, and within a few months established a small 
slaughter house. His success was such that in 1869 he went to 
Brighton, a suburb of Boston, at that time the principal live- 
stock market in New England, and in 1872 formed a partner- 
ship with James A, Hathaway. The new firm prospered and 
the headquarters were moved to Albany, New York, Mr. Swift 
making regular visits to the Chicago and Buffalo cattle markets, 
where he was a large but conservative buyer. In 1875, Hatha- 
way and Swift transferred their operations to Chicago and 
embarked in the business of buying and shipping cattle. Two 
years later, Mr. Swift began to slaughter cattle at the Union 
Stockyards, and with the advent of cold weather, shipped his 
first dressed beef in ordinary box cars from Chicago to the 
eastern markets. The economy of this method so impressed 
him that he began to experiment with a refrigerator on wheels, 
recognizing its possibilities in the opening of new and expan- 
sive markets. After considerable pioneer work that drew heav- 
ily on his limited capital, he sent the first car of perfectly 




GUSTAVUS FRANKLIN SWIFT 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 163 

refrigerated dressed beef to New England, to arrive Thanks- 
giving morning, 1878. At this time the partnership with Mr. 
Hathaway was dissolved an<i his brother, Edwin C. Swift, came 
in with him to organize the firm of Swift Bros. & Co. 

The business of the new firm grew rapidly, its market extended 
throughout the entire United States and even to Europe. In 
1885, the firm was incorporated under the name of SwiFT & 
Company, with a capital stock of $300,000 and Mr. Swift was 
made president. At the time of the incorporation the company 
employed some 1,600 men, but under his management it grew 
until approximately 40,000 were employed at the time of his 
death in 1903. Today the principal plants of Swift & Company, 
in eleven large cities occupy nearly 318 acres, and the total num- 
bers of employees exceeds 60,000. The capital stock has increased 
to $150,000,000 and the distributed sales for 1918 were above 
one and one-fifth billions. Mr. Swift made several trips to 
England to overcome the prejudice against western dressed beef, 
a prejudice that was partially mitigated by the disease dangers 
in the influx of live cattle. 

The new master of the packing trade kept in close touch with 
the branch houses of his business, and was familiar with prac- 
tically every detail. He was a firm believer in quality and con- 
stantly endeavored to produce the best in all his various prod- 
ucts. He was quick to take advantage of any new idea that 
could be applied to his business and continually studied scien- 
tific methods of utilizing wastes and developing byproducts. 
Economy in operation and the development of mechanical 
refrigeration were the two principal factors contributing to 
Swift & Company's success. Mr. Swift became heavily inter- 
terested in many other firms an4 corporations in all parts of 
the United States, and took an active part in numerous public 
and benevolent activities within Chicago. He was the father of 
eleven children and was succeeded by his sons, Louis F. Swift 
as President, and Edward F. Swift as Vice President of the 
company. 



164 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A GENIUS OF MARKET ORGANIZATION 

63. Edward Tilden, packer and banker, was bom at Utica, 
N. Y., June 17, 1855. While still a babe his family moved to 
Wisconsin and his public school education was received at Del- 
avan. His introduction to business occurred in the same town, 
where he became a clerk and bookkeeper in a general store. He 
then spent two years in Toronto, Canada, but when he had 
acquired facility in bookkeeping he was offered a position with 
Brintnall, Lamb & Co., wholesale hardware dealers of Chicago. 
As his acquaintanceship widened, his opportunities multiplied, 
and in 1883 he became general bookkeeper and five years later 
assistant cashier of the Drovers National Bank at the Stock- 
yards. From here he proceeded in 1897 to Libby, McNeil & 
LiBBY, to become treasurer of their packing industry. In 1903 
he was made president and director of this company, a position 
he retained until his death, February 5, 1915. He was appointed 
as executor of the Gustavus F. Swift estate in 1903, and was 
also made treasurer of the newly organized National Packing 
Co. Two years later he was made its president, which office he 
retained until its dissolution. 

About 1900 he acquired an interest in the St. Louis Stock 
Yards Co., and was made a director. About the same time he 
was elected treasurer and director of the Sioux City Stock Yards 
Co., and in 1907 he was made president of the Denver Stock 
Yards Co., a position he held until 1915. Mr. Tilden main- 
tained a large farm at his boyhood home and frequently enter- 
tained the employees of the packing plant there. On one occa- 
sion he furnished entertainment for 7,000. 

For several years he was very active in politics and was a 
member of the Chicago School Board from 1900 to 1906, being 
its president the last year. He was school treasurer for Hyde 
Park and Lake for several years prior to its annexation to 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 165 

Chicago. He was a commissioner of the South Park Board from 
1910 until the date of his death. 

In 1883 he first organized the firm of Edward Tilden & Co., 
as investment bankers, and from that time on was more or less 
interested in the banking business of Chicago and other cities. 
He was a large stockholder in the Fort Dearborn National Bank 
and the Drovers National Bank of Chicago, and was extensively 
interested in many other industries of that city. He was a 
director of the Chicago & Alton Railroad and of the Toledo, 
Peoria & Western. 

Mr. Tilden exercised a very broad financial and political 
influence throughout the Central West, but his greatest achieve- 
ment was the upbuilding and development of the Libby, McNeil 
& Libby plant. He was largely responsible for the variety of 
its products, and on several occasions saved the company from 
overthrow and disintegration by bits of bold business judgment 
and strong financiering. His death in 1915 was a great loss to 
the packing and business interests of Chicago. 



166 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

THE PIONEER OF PACKINGTOWN 

65. The first packing business in Chicago was operated by 
the firm of Burt, Hutchinson & Snow, located on Rhodes St., 
near Archer Avenue. Its facilities were relatively primitive in 
the light of those used at the present day, but on its foundations 
was builded a firm, the Chicago Packing & Provision Co., that 
at one time was the largest in America. The genius behind the 
organization of Burt, Hutchinson & Snow, was BENjAMfN 
Peters Hutchinson. 

Mr. Hutchinson was born at Reading, Mass., February 24, 
1829. His early education was received in the New England 
Public Schools and upon completion of his course he engaged 
for a time in the shoe business at Lynn, Mass. In 1853 he came 
to Chicago, but not finding the exact opportunities he desired, 
he proceeded to Milwaukee. In 1858 he returned to Chicago, 
entering the grain business, and within a few months partici- 
pated with Messrs. Burt & Snow in organizing the packing 
business previously mentioned. Upon the establishment of the 
Union Stockyards the firm took its business there, and estab- 
lished the first packing house at the Yards. In 1872 the partner- 
ship was dissolved, and the Chicago Packing & Provision Co. 
formed from it. This continued in business until 1885. 

In 1870 Mr. Hutchinson founded the Corn Exchange 
National Bank, which early developed into a thriving institu- 
tion. Aside from his banking and packing interests he con- 
ducted a large business on the Board of Trade, where he had a 
notable career both as a speculator and as a shipper of grain. 
His death occurred in Chicago, March 16, 1899. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 167 

THE FOUNDER OF THE YARDS 

66. The real originator of the Union Stock Yards as far as 
practical achievement is concerned was John Sherman. From 
its inception he was identified with this industry and was elected 
its president in 1866, a position he occupied until succeeded 
by Mr. John A. Spoor in 1897. During these years the vast 
interests of the Union Stock Yard & Transit Co. were almost 
entirely in his hands, and so competent were his efforts and so 
popular his personality, that on his retirement a bust (142) 
was presented the Club by the commission men and others more 
or less intimately associated with him during his tenure of office. 

He was born on a farm near Beeckman, Dutchess Co., New 
York, in January, 1835. His early education was almost 
meagre, as he alternated his hours in public school with a posi- 
tion as clerk in a country store. When the California gold rush 
of 1849 occurred, he joined, one of the New York parties and 
was among the fortunate ones to fill his pockets with gold. As 
he had married previous to going west, his stay there was not 
long, and he returned at the earliest opportunity to New York. 
His trip across the country had convinced him of the great agri- 
cultural opportunities of the middle west, and shortly after his 
return he removed with his family to Illinois. He bought a 
farm a short distance out of Chicago, growing corn and feeding 
livestock for several years. About 1856 he came to Chicago, 
and was appointed to the management of the stockyard operated 
by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and also the 
Merrick Yards on Michigan Avenue. At this time each railroad 
maintained its own market and the advantages of a centralized 
institution had not yet been realized. 

In the early 60's Mr. S. W. Allerton (67) and other Chicago 
financiers had pointed out the necessity for a constant Chicago 
market, and Mr. Sherman in company with Mr. Ledyard, then 
president of the Michigan Central Railroad at Detroit, pur- 



168 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

chased the 320 acres that were the original site of the Union 
Stockyard, and induced the other railroads to combine for its 
utilization. After organizing its activities to the widest degree, 
Mr. Sherman returned to Poughkeepsie, N. Y., with his family, 
where he remained for a period of about two years. The devel- 
opment of the stockyards, however, required his return, and he 
came back as general superintendent, and later president of the 
Yards. In 1897 he resigned, but maintained his interest as a 
director until his death, February 25, 1902. The growth of the 
Yards was phenomenal and by the early SO's from 8,000 to 
10,000 cattle a day were handled. This made it the largest 
market in the world at the time, a prestige that has been main- 
tained until the present day. A large debt is owed by the public 
to Mr. Sherman for the thoroughness and foresight of his organ- 
ization. 




JOHN SHERMAN 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 169 

A GIANT OF ILLINOIS' AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 

67. Samuel Waters Allerton Jr., was one of the pioneers 
in the livestock industry of Chicago. He was a strong buyer 
of livestock in the days previous to the general market in Chi- 
cago, and shipped large numbers of animals to the east, to New 
York and Boston. Mr. Allerton published in the Chicago 
Tribune the first letter in favor of organizing the Union Stock 
Yards and by his efforts in founding the First National Bank 
and in developing the world's greatest livestock market, did 
much toward making Chicago the financial center of the west. 

Samuel W. Allerton Jr., was born May 26, 1828, at Amenia, 
Dutchess Co., New York, the youngest of nine children. At 
seven years of age due to the destructive tariff measures of the 
30's, his father was forced into bankruptcy, and at twelve he 
was required to commence work for himself. In 1842 the entire 
family removed to Yates Co., New York, where a farm was 
rented. Young Samuel worked with his father until they saved 
sufficient money to buy a farm in Wayne Co. He then with his 
brother Henry, rented a farm from which they made a profit 
of $1,500. They forthwith bought a small acreage jointly near 
Newark, for $4,500, paying the $1,500 profit down. His brother 
went to work on this farm while he rented another, and at the 
end of three years he had saved $3,200. He then returned to 
Newark where he worked with his brothers and traded in live- 
stock in a small way. Upon taking his purchases to New York 
and Albany he discovered that he knew as much as the dealers 
he met, he therefore told his brother Henry, "I think my serv- 
ices are worth more than $9 a month, and as we now have the 
farm paid for, and $3,000 in money, you take the farm and I 
will take the money." His brother attempted to dissuade him, 
but seeing that he was intent on trying the livestock trade, he 
agreed to this settlement. Henry's parting advice to him was 



170 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

to make a name and character for himself, thereby being sure 
to win. 

The first hundred cattle Mr. Allerton ever bought were sold 
in New York City where the Fifth Avenue Bank now stands. 
It was the worst market New York had known in ten years, and 
he lost $700. This almost discouraged him, but an elderly uncle 
who had been very successful, said to him, "Don't lose your 
courage, I never found but one dead sure thing, and that was 
hoeing corn at 50 cents a day. If you make money you must 
sometimes lose it, try again." Young Allerton then went to 
Erie. Rebellious women had burned the railroad bridges 
because the trains would not stop for dinner, making a break 
in the line. He bought 100 cattle, shipped them over the Erie 
to New York, encountered a great flood, and found the market 
consequently short. This netted him a profit of $3,000 and 
gave him new courage. He drifted to the west and for one year 
fed and raised cattle in Illinois. The panic incident on the 
failure of the Sturgis interests in Cincinnati, wiped out every- 
thing Mr. Allerton had. He became ill and concluded that 
there was something wrong with the western climate, so took 
an interest in his brother's store in Newark. This form of busi- 
ness seemed too petty to him after dealing on so much larger a 
scale, and the confinement made the western climate seem very 
desirable to him. He borrowed $5,000 and started for the west, 
proceeding directly to Fulton Co., where he traded a little, and 
renewed his acquaintance with Miss Pamilia W. Thompson, 
daughter of A. C. Thompson, a big cattleman located in that 
county. In 1860 he removed to Chicago, and four months later 
they were married. 

Believing that Chicago was the only place "where the world 
turned around every twenty-four hours," he commenced in a 
conservative way to buy and sell stock. At this period the only 
general market in Chicago was held in the winter, the remainder 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 171 

of the year all livestock being shipped to the East. A severe 
break occurred in the Chicago cattle demand about this time, 
and Mr. Allerton saw a favorable opportunity to buy. 
Through the good influences of a Mr. Toby, he succeeded in 
arranging for a sight draft with George Smith's bank, Mr. 
Allerton thereupon went to the stockyards and bought all the 
hogs on the market, preparing a draft for $80,000. This was 
too much for the bank, which refused to handle it, having 
expected something in the vicinity of $5,000 instead. After 
various ventures he succeeded in getting it discounted at a 1% 
rate by Aikens & Norton. The venture proved successful, and 
gave Mr. Allerton the financial security necessary to establish 
a permanent business. 

At the outbreak of the Civil War the financial situation in the 
north was rather strained. Congress had just passed the National 
Bank Act and had issued bonds to secure the circulation. Hither- 
to, the only paper currency had been the so-called red-dog and 
bob-tailed notes. Mr. Allerton broached the subject of a na- 
tional bank to Mr. Aikens, but the latter demurred because he 
feared he could not get stock taken. Nothing daunted, Mr, 
Allerton secured five other men that would take $10,000 each 
and thus the First National Bank of Chicago was founded. 

Ever since his permanent location in the west, Mr. Allerton 
had been accumulating farm lands, and by the opening of the 
new century, had acquired a total of about 19,000 acres in Illi- 
nois, in addition to some 21,000 acres in Iowa, Wisconsin and 
Kansas. As his financial independence grew he secured large 
holdings in gold mines, and aided in the financiering of the street 
railways in pioneer Chicago. Throughout all his activities, how- 
ever, he maintained his chief interest in the livestock trade, con- 
tinuing to ship to New York, New England and Britain. 

Mr. Allerton was a staunch republican in politics, and a 
firm supporter of a strong tariff. He lent active support to all 



172 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

constructive financial legislation, believing the American finan- 
cial system should be as sound as the Bank of England. Mr. 
Allerton provided large benefactions for public schools, colleges 
and hospitals, and interested himself in the promotion of num- 
erous industries of a public nature. He ran for mayor of Chicago 
against Carter H. Harrison, and carried the north division of 
the city and the better residential wards, but was beaten by politi- 
cal manipulations in the organized districts. He died February 
22, 1914, at his winter home in South Pasadena, Cal. 

Mr. Allerton's advice to young men seeking a start in agri- 
culture was: "Hire out to some farmer by the year for $250 and 
board; save $200 of it and deposit it in a good bank until you 
can invest it safely. Keep on until you have saved $1,500 and 
then rent a farm. You will have a character and a credit and will 
have no trouble renting a farm. Then with good health nothing 
can prevent you from becoming a farm owner. Get married 
when you have enough to start in life." 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 173 

THE FOUNDER OF ELMENDORF 

68. Kentucky from earliest times has been the home of magni- 
ficent breeding establishments. The story of Woodburn Farm 
(82) has been told for years, but its rival in variety of livestock 
and quality oi breeds did not exist until Elmendorf estate, lo- 
cate4 near Lexington, Kentucky, was founded. Elmendorf was 
the property of the venerable James B. Haggin, a man who lived 
almost to his 94th birthday, and who participated actively in 
some of the most notable events of the last century. Mr. Haggin 
was a "forty-niner," having begun the practice of law in Califor- 
nia, but he soon turned to mining interests and in company with 
Senator Hearst and Marcus Daly he achieved international 
fame and vast fortune. As a breeder of Thoroughbreds and trot- 
ters, Mr. Haggin's name has been foremost for years, but he 
touched agriculture most intimately during his later life, when 
he collected his famous herds of Shropshires, Shorthorns, Jerseys 
and Berkshires. With fine spirit he placed the entire estate at 
the disposal of the Kentucky Agricultural College for demonstra- 
tion and instructional purposes, making thereby an unprecedented 
contribution to agricultural education. 

Mr. Haggin carried his activities into his most advanced years 
and maintained keenest personal interest in Elmendorf to the end, 
constantly expanding its operations. He ranks among the strong- 
est and most rugged characters in our national life. 

He was born in Harrodsburg, Ky., December 9, 1820 and died 
at his home at Newport, R. I., September 12, 1914. He was a 
grandson of pioneers who came to Virginia in 1775, but who 
proceeded immediately to the little settlement in the vicinity of 
the fort at Harrodsburg, Mercer Co., Ky. This pioneer Haggin 
was a staunch friend and boon companion of the redoubtable 
Simon Kenton, and both became famous for their prowess as 
hunters and Indian fighters. Mr. Haggin's education was for the 
legal profession, his common school work being received at 



174 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Frankfort and Louisville, Ky. In connection with his practice 
as an attorney he did an extensive real estate business, taking up 
valuable lands and mining claims. With Lloyd Tevis and others, 
he was joint owner of the Home Stake Mine in the Black Hills, 
one of the richest and most widely known properties in the world. 

For many years Mr. Haggin was a figure in the agricultural 
and financial affairs of California. He purchased the Rancho del 
Paso of about forty thousand acres, and here collected the very 
best blood obtainable in Thoroughbred horses. Each year he 
sent valuable shipments east for public sale in Kentucky and at 
Madison Square Garden. In 1897 Mr. Haggin married Miss 
Pearl Voorhies, of Versailles, Ky., and shortly thereafter made 
the purchase of the land on which he founded his Elmendorf 
estate. This finally included some 9,000 acres in the fertile coun- 
ties of Fayette, Scott and Bourbon. Mr. Haggin made extensive 
improvements on the farm and then transferred his California 
Thoroughbreds to the blue grass section. 

In the fall of 1906, he founded his Shorthorn herd, securing in 
1907 the redoubtable. Whitehall Marshall (138) for its head. 
About this time he made several importations of Welsh ponies, 
Shire and Suffolk horses, and Shropshire sheep. His Berkshires 
were also acquired then, and he developed one of the very strong- 
est herds of swine in the country. 

In 1908 as a result of his advocacy for clean milk, he estab- 
lished a certified dairy plant at Elmendorf, and, laid the founda- 
tions for a great dairy herd, buying and importing Jerseys at a 
great cost, and also securing Guernseys, Kerries, Dexter Kerries, 
and Milking Shorthorns. His milking herd ultimately included 
some 1,400 animals, of which more than half were Jerseys. His 
famous bull. Noble of Oaklands, has been the source of more 
showyard winners and high test cows than any bull of the breed 
in recent years. The dairy barn was built of native limestone, a 
southwestern type of architecture being used, and the roofs were 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB , 175 

made of red Spanish tile. Rigid sanitary measures were enforced 
throughout. 

Mr. Haggin was often referred to as eccentric and a man of 
mystery, but those who were near enough to him to know his great 
worth, his generosity and kindness of heart, his gentle courtliness 
of manner, believed differently. He was the benefactor of Ken- 
tucky an<i the South, and gave much to his generation. 



176 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

HEAD OF THE HOUSE OF ARMOUR 

69. On the death of P. D. Armour in 1901, the responsibility 
for the great business of Armour and Company fell upon his 
eldest son, J. Ogden Armour. Mr. Armour possesses in high de- 
gree the masterly characteristics of his father, and with quieter 
methods he has secured as firm a grasp on the business as was 
held by his paternal predecessor. 

Mr. Armour was born in Milwaukee, Wis., November 11, 1863, 
but came to Chicago in 1875 with his family. He was educated 
at Harvard school, Chicago, and entered Yale college in 1880. 
Owing to his father's desire to give him early training and experi- 
ence in the business of the firm, he sacrificed his final college 
year, and returned to Chicago for duty in 1883. His apprentice- 
ship began at once, and after serving a year in subordinate posi- 
tions, he became a partner. He early showed the necessary energy 
and close attention required by his father and advanced steadily 
in leadership. 

Since his accession to the business in 1901, the annual gross 
income has grown from $182,000,000 a year to $1,065,000,000 in 
1919. The company activities were greatly developed and ex- 
tended by original and modern means. Economy and business 
efficiency were applied both to manufacture and distribution, 
enabling lower prices to the public and higher values to the pro- 
ducers. His work has been essentially that of development and he 
has built numerous plants in the near vicinity of the livestock 
producing regions in order to eliminate the necessity of long live- 
stock shipments. Today he operates at logical points some fifteen 
plants in the United States and in addition has several in Canada 
and South America. Under his guidance the number of branch 
houses -distributing Armour products has reached over four 
hundred, while the refrigerator and tank service in 1918 totalled 
5,435 cars. He has succeeded in increasing the utilization of 
byproducts; has paid great attention to educational and informa- 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 177 

tive work among both producers and consumers, and has devel- 
oped and improved the working conditions and community inter- 
ests in all his plants. Hs was early interested, in agricultural edu- 
cation, and founded a series of scholarships, known as the Armour 
Scholarships, which were competed for annually at the Interna- 
tional by the different colleges. Their award to each institution 
was based on the excellence of showing of each, in the student's 
judging contest and the show of college livestock. 

Mr. Armour has always followed a sane financial policy as 
head of the Company and each year has put back into the business 
about 90 percent of the profits. He played an important part in 
engineering the changes necessary to produce a steady livestock 
market every day in the week, thereby giving the packing house 
employes constant and steady work, and overcoming the earlier 
tendency to spasmodic and unsystematic periods of employment. 
He has contributed generously to his father's philanthropies, espe- 
cially the Armour Institute, giving the latter sums far in excess 
of the liberal amounts originally provided by his father. 



178 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A MASTER OF MEN AND MEASURES 

70. Foremost among the philanthropists and men of big busi- 
ness in the closing years of the last century in Chicago, occurs 
the name of Philip Danforth Armour, founder of Armour and 
Company, and the Armour Institute. He was born May 16, 1832, 
at Stockbridge, New York, a farmer descended from a race of 
Scottish farmers. When the rush for gold in California reached 
its highest mark, he had reached the age of nineteen. Stories of 
fabulous wealth obtained by this or that adventurer were recounted 
in each magazine and journal, and like many others, the ambi- 
tious youth turned anxious glances toward the west. He finally 
secured parental consent, and with a few companions left the 
family homestead to seek the land of the sunset. Although the 
start was made on foot he had received several hundred dollars 
from his parents, and in a large measure became the financier of 
the party. The undertaking was of an almost stupendous nature, 
one member of the party died, and two lost heart, turning back. 
At Independence, Kansas, they secured a yoke of oxen and a 
prairie schooner, and at the end of six months arrived in Cali- 
fornia. A brief study of con-ditions convinced the young man 
that a more certain road to fortune would be found in building 
sluices than in prospecting for gold. At first he worked as a 
laborer by himself getting $5.00 a day, or $10.00 when he 
worked at night. This led to his developing a contract business 
for sluice construction and he employed numbers of miners who 
had lost their all in vain searches an-d who wished to earn money 
to return home. The business prospered and in five years young 
Armour had accumulated a few thousand dollars. He thereupon 
returned to Oneida Co., New York, to invest in a farm, but as he 
found the young lady in whom he believed himself interested 
had married another while he was in the west, he started for 
other parts in which he determined to build a fortune. 




p. D. ARMOUR 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 179 

On his return from California, he had stopped for two days in 
Milwaukee, then the prosperous gateway of the west. It was in 
fact one of the principal stopping points for that grim variety of 
Argonauts who were seeking the Pacific slopes or returning to 
their homes with California gold in their pockets. Milwaukee 
seemed the logical place to locate and he joined in a partnership 
with Fred P. Miles on March 1, 1859, in the produce and com- 
mission business. The enterprise prospered from the beginning 
and soon handled a large volume of the smoked and pickled meats 
demanded by travelers going to and from the coast. After three 
years of this existence, Mr. Armour had become well known in 
the business circles, and in 1863 he joined the packing firm of 
John Plankinton, then the largest livestock industry in Mil- 
waukee. The firm name became Plankinton & Armour, and 
pork packing its chief business. The days were long, extending 
from four in the morning until late at night, but the business 
boomed. 

Following the Civil War, Chicago began to develop, and Philip 
Armour watched carefully for expanding interests. He prevailed 
upon his brother, H. 0. Armour, to open in New York the com- 
mission house of Armour, Plankinton & Co., while Joseph F. 
Armour took charge of the Chicago office. On Christmas day, 
1865, the Union Stock Yards opened for business, and two years 
later the Chicago house of the firm began packing hogs under the 
name of Armour & Co. For eight years hogs only were handled, 
but in 1875 Mr. Armour removed to Chicago and expanded the 
business so that in 1878 they began killing cattle and in 1880 
slaughtering sheep. In 1878 the refrigerator car was perfected, 
and upon the refusal of the railroads to build refrigerator cars, 
Mr. Armour built a fleet of his own. Business grew rapidly 
since it had been previously impossible to eat fresh meat in the 
"ofif season," and Armour & Co. developed as new fields of en- 
deavor opened. 



180 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Mr. Armour understood thoroughly the science of eliminating 
waste. From his earliest days he had learned to turn everything 
to account, and instead of paying somebody to remove the refuse 
of the industry as had previously been the custom, he began the 
manufacture of glue, fertilizer an4 soap. Many other lines of 
byproducts were added from time to time, until today they form 
the most profitable part of the firm's business. In fact, they are 
the principal factor in keeping down the prices of retail meat, 
since they absorb such an important percentage of the killing 
costs. Mr. Armour is quoted as saying, "Give me the waste 
from the animals slaughtered and I will make more money than 
the fellow selling the meat." 

In 1893, he had developed as a side line to his meat packing 
activities, a moderate grain business. Because of the panic, cash 
grain in the northwestern grain centers was selling at such great 
discounts that Chicago May futures could be sold and country 
grain bought to replace them. Mr. Armour bought several mil- 
lion bushels in the northwestern market, but at the same time a 
combination of rival grain operators bought all the cash grain 
in Chicago, and refused to move it out. Since the law required 
all grain to be stored in registered elevators, Mr. Armour had no 
place to unload his northwestern wheat. Sixteen hundred cars of 
wheat accumulated on the tracks, and three hundred boatloads on 
Lake Michigan. In this crisis he declared, "I'll build an elevator 
of my own" — when told it would require six months to accomplish 
this, he snatched a telephone, called a contractor, installed electric 
lights to permit night work, and in forty-two days had the ele- 
vator completed and was receiving grain. The combine was de- 
feated, and Mr. Armour reaped a reasonable reward. 

One Sunday he attended the old Plymouth Church, and listened 
to a sermon by Dr. F. W. Gunsaulus who preached on the sub- 
ject, "What I would do with a Million Dollars." Mr. Armour 
became intensely interested, as a vision of affording technical 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 181 

education to boys too poor to attend regular colleges was 
unfolded by the clergyman. After the sermon, Mr. Armour 
approached Dr. Gunsaulus and said, "If you will give your time 
to such an institution as you have outlined, I will give you the 
money." From this the Armour Institute was founded, on a 
benefaction running up into millions of dollars. 

When Mr. Armour died, January 6, 1901, he had developed a 
business that employed more people than any other single con- 
cern in the world, and whose annual income was approximately 
$180,000,000. His death resulted from heart trouble, but even 
to his last days he remained the same energetic and enthusiastic 
worker as of old, refusing to remain idle, despite the advice of 
his physician. When his portrait was hung in the Hall of Fame at 
the University of Illinois, many of the big men of the business 
and agricultural world gathered, to pay tribute to his achieve- 
ments. Today he stands as one of the most prominent figures of 
all history in the nation's commercial development. 



182 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A MASTER MARKET MAKER 

71. Another German born citizen of America who rose from 
as humble beginnings as Captain Pabst (47) and who became 
fully as influential a financial figure in the business world previ- 
ous to his death, was Nelson Morris, Chicago packer and opera- 
tor on the Board of Trade, Mr. Morris was born in a small settle- 
ment in the Black Forest, Germany, January 21, 1839. He was 
practically self-educated, since he came to the United States at 
the age of twelve, and to Chicago at the age of fifteen. Here 
he secured employment in the stockyards and two years later laid 
the foundations of the packing business of Morris and Company 
by entering business for himself. The growth of his big organiza- 
tion was gradual, and throughout the 80's and 90's he was able to 
add quite materially to its scope through some profitable opera- 
tions on the Board of Trade. 

In 1863 he married Sarah Vogel, and, reared four children: 
Edward Morris, who succeeded him at the head of the industry; 
Ira Nelson Morris, who has been closely connected in various 
official capacities with the corporation, and who since 1913 has 
occupied various diplomatic positions, among them being U. S. 
Minister to Sweden; Gusta Morris, who became the wife of 
Maurice L. Rothschild, head of the Chicago clothing store, 
and Maud, the wife of M. Martineau, now living in London. 

Upon the incorporation of the partnership of Morris & Co., 
Nelson Morris became president, and for a number of years 
was also president of the Fairbank Canning Co., in which he 
held a large financial interest. He was a director of the first Na- 
tional Bank, of the Stock Yards Savings Bank, and the People's 
Trust and Savings Bank. He died August 27, 1907, at the age of 
68 years, leaving a business of large proportions as a monument 
to his shrewd business judgment and his unswerving constructive 
purpose. 




NELSON MORRIS 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 183 

Nelson Morris was one of the best judges of cattle that ever 
rode a hdrse in the yards, and it is within the memory of many 
of the stockyard veterans when he set forth each morning for a 
personal inspection of the cattle market and a personal direction 
of the buying for his firm. His figure in the yards was familiar 
long after he ceased these more strenuous operations, and many 
drovers and stockmen remember his sturdy manner an4 his always 
democratic bearing. To know him in these days was to admire 
and love him. His charities, always quiet and unostentatious, 
were myriad, and his death was a real calamity to many. 



184 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A SCION OF BIG BUSINESS 

72. The foundations of the great packing business of Morris 
& Co. were bequeathed by Nelson Morris to his son Edward 
Morris. In the later years of his father's life the younger MoRRiS 
had manifested a genius for business that compelled a hearty 
recognition when he succeeded as its head. Frequently the sons 
of rich men have scattered the fortune handed them by their 
fathers, but Edward Morris conserved and enlarged the estate. 
He had been at the head of the packing business for only a few 
years when he bought from the other heirs their entire holdings 
in the packing company, at a cost of fifteen million dollars. 
This was one of the most gigantic transactions recorded in the 
commercial world at this time. Mr. Morris had a genius not only 
for the packing business, but for other lines. He was counted 
as one of the largest bank stock holders in the city of Chicago, 
and his name appeared on the directorate of numerous stock com- 
panies. Few men of such large affairs have continued in such 
close personal touch with their undertakings, but the habits of 
industry inherited from his father clung closely to him and he 
knew intimately each detail of his large plants. 

Edward Morris was born Oct. 1, 1865. His early life was 
very closely allied to the business of Nelson Morris & Co., and 
his collegiate training was limited. Mr. Morris, however, was 
widely read, and discussed interestingly any subject in business, 
music, art or literature. On Oct. 1, 1889 he married Helen 
Swift, and to this union were born four children; Edward Mor- 
ris, the present head of the business. Nelson, Ruth and Helen 
Muriel. His happiest moments were spent in his own home, but 
he was very much interested in the financial development not 
only of Chicago, but of the country at large. Mr. Morris was a 
familiar figure at the Saddle and Sirloin Club, where he was 
ready to recognize each acquaintance and to accord him a genial 
companionship. Of a generous nature, no one in distress could 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 185 

come to him without meeting with a ready response, and he was 
one of the most generous contributors to charity in the city. A 
very large portion of his charity was distributed without the 
knowledge of the outside world. He purchased the Shakespeare 
house, and presented it to Harvard University a few years before 
his death, thus giving a hint of the inward mind of the engrossed 
man of business. His death Nov. 3, 1913, came as a distinct shock 
to the commercial world, although it was not unexpected by those 
in the inner circle of his acquaintance. A nervous breakdown, 
resulting from kidney disorder, terminated one of the most suc- 
cessful business careers offered a man of the younger generation, 
and his untimely demise was sincerely mourned. 



186 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A PRODIGY OF PACKINGTOWN 

73. Possibly the most meteoric career enjoyed by one of the 
younger business men of America is that of Thomas Edward Wil- 
son, president of the packing industry of Wilson & Co. Mr. 
Wilson was born in London, Ontario, July 22, 1868, of Scottish 
descent. When nine years old his parents moved to Chicago, and 
he received his education in the Chicago public schools. Upon 
graduation he secured a position with the Chicago, Burlington 
& Quincy Railroad. While handling the special equipment rec- 
ords in 1890 for the railway company, he overheard another clerk 
strongly condemning a similar position with Morris & Co., left 
after a brief experience. Mr. Wilson sought and was given the 
position, and then began his career in the meat packing industry. 
He served the MORRis company in various capacities, and in prac- 
tically all departments, and by 1906 had achieved sufficient mas- 
tery of the details of the organization to be elected vice president 
of the company. On the death of Edward Morris, he succeeded 
to the presidency in 1913. His success here was manifold, and 
he rapidly acquired a reputation second to none among the deans 
of the packing industry. 

In the spring of 1916 the New York interests which had been 
financing the packing firm of Sulzberger & Sons Co. found the 
latter had become so involved that they took charge of the busi- 
ness themselves. Mr. Wilson was approached with a high sal- 
aried proposition, but on a pure salary basis he refused to con- 
sider a change. His years of experience with Morris & Co. made 
him feel a loyalty to the original concern which a matter of salary 
could not divert. Recognizing this, Mr. Wilson was again ap- 
proached by the New York financiers and offered both a record 
compensation and an option on a large number of shares of the 
Sulzberger & Sons Co. stock at less than one-fifth of the face 
value. This apparently low rate was named in order to reward 
him thoroughly for upbuilding and stabilizing the business. Mr. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 187 

Wilson entered his new duties with a will, and was so successful 
in organizing and whipping together the disintegrated interests 
that at the time his option expired, the shares he held were worth 
nearly four times as much as when he received his option. This 
gave Mr. Wilson a high financial rating and has enabled him to 
proceed even further with the extension and organization of the 
business. On July 21, 1916, the firm name was changed to 
Wilson & Co. 

Wilson & Co. is among the largest of meat packing concerns 
in the world having packing plants at Chicago, Oklahoma City, 
Kansas City, Los Angeles, Calif.; Sioux Falls, S. D.; Nebraska 
City, Nebr. ; Albert Lea, Minn.; Natchez, Miss.; Wheeling, 
W. Va.; Chatham, Ontario, Canada; Buenos Aires, A. R. South 
America and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Wilson & Co. have branches in 
all principal European countries and do a large export business. 
In 1918, the company showed total assets of $129,891,945.30. 

Mr. Wilson was elected first president of the Institute of 
American Meat Packers, which organization he was instrumental 
in forming. The Institute comprises in its membership nearly 
every large and small meat packer in the United States. Mr. 
Wilson is a director of the International Livestock Exposition, 
a director of the Wabash Railroad and president of the Oklahoma 
City Stock Yards Co. In 1918 he also was elected president of 
the Chicago Shorthorn Cattle Club. Edellyn Farm is near Lake 
Forest, 111., where Mr. Wilson indulges his passion for breeding 
and raising pure blooded horses. Shorthorn cattle, Duroc Jersey 
hogs, poultry and game. He has specialized in Shorthorn cattle 
and Clydesdale draft horses. 

Mr. Wilson is one of the most popular of the greater officials 
in Chicago, and has a wide club membership and an even wider 
friendship. As an example of the success that can come to the 
youth of humble origin who possesses brains and industry, Mr. 
Wilson stands almost supreme and his career is a direct challenge 
to every young man of ability. 



188 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A MASTER OF THE ART OF ARTS 

74. On the 21st of June, 1775, there was born at Aydon Castle, 
Northumberland, the genius who was to dominate Shorthorn 
breeding for the century to follow. Thomas Bates made the 
most distinct contribution to the art of animal breeding that oc- 
curred during the nineteenth century, since he demonstrated with 
unfaltering step the value and method of pedigree matings. In 
1800 he leased the extensive acreage of Halton Castle for a period 
of twenty-one years, and there founded the family that swept on- 
ward to the first climax in Shorthorn breeding, the New York 
Mills Sale of 1873. His early acquaintance with the breed was 
gained at Darlington Fair on market Mondays. Here he dwelt 
with keen hand and shrewd eye ori the products of the "divinities 
of old Durham," and seasoned that keenness of judgment and 
irrevocableness of decision that blazoned his way through the 
difficulties of the coming five decades. 

On May 1, 1800 he entered into control of the Halton Castle 
acreage but although he had acquired his first Shorthorns two 
months previously the foundation stock on which he had set his 
heart was as yet unpurchased. A step in the desired .direction 
came through his acquirement of Charles Colling's Daisy Bull 
in the following autumn, but he was used only for steer breeding 
operations. A legacy in 1804 from a deceased aunt enabled him 
to embark in his coveted occupation. From it he purchased for 
100 guineas, the four-year-old Duchess by Daisy Bull. She de- 
scended purely from Colling's two famous bulls, Favorite and 
Hubback, and had ancestry only of the animals that Bates ad- 
mired. He had numerous vicissitudes, however, and was unable 
to found the family he desired until at the Ketton dispersion in 
1810 he secured her granddaughter by the 1000 guinea bull 
Comet. The cow herself was pronounced "shabby" by the ring- 
side, and loud were the taunts that Mr. Bates received, but he had 
achieved his desire and with characteristic courage announced 




THOMAS BATES 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 189 

that he was going to build the "best breed," of Shorthorns from 
her. That he accomplished his purpose is a matter of history. 
He inbred and interbred her descendants until a natural tendency 
to shy breeding forced him to seek elsewhere for sires. This 
contingency was due more to the physical absence of bulls rather 
than lack of courage on Bates' part to continue his methods, and 
the justification of his judgment is found in the fact that only one 
of several bulls introduced had any permanent effect of improve- 
ment. In fact most of the outside bulls were actually detrimental 
to his operations. 

The one bull from external sources that made him fame and 
fortune was selected on his pedigree alone, the bull Belvedere, 
full of the blood of Charles Colling's old Princess. This cow 
too cfft-ried only the heritage of Favorite and Hubback, and hence 
brought to Mr. Bates again the blood he so earnestly was con- 
centrating in his Duchesses. Selected on his pedigree alone, Mr. 
Bates found his judgment confirmed by a glimpse of the bull's 
head, and completed his transaction for the animal before he 
examined the remainder of its conformation. From Belvedere 
he obtained his magnificent Duke of Northumberland and the 
show herd that placed him undisputably as Britain's premier 
breeder. From that day forward his family increased in value 
until in 1873 the best Duchess brought $40,600 and the average 
of fourteen Duchesses in the sale was practically $18,750. 

In 1821 Mr. Bates removed from Halton to Ridley Hall and 
in May 1830 he transferred to his permanent estate at Kirkleving- 
ton, purchased in 1811, driving his herd with him. His fifty cows 
and heifers by 2d Hubback excited an interest of unrivalled in- 
tensity. One further service Mr. Bates performed for the breed- 



190 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

ing art. Milk and butter records were kept on all cows, his best 
cows when tested having each quart of milk churned separately. 
From his humble beginnings have arisen the principle of dairy 
test associations an4 the great advanced registry systems. 

Firmness and keenness of judgment were his biggest assets, his 
certainty of himself and oft-time irritation. At the Doncaster 
meeting of 1820 Earl Spencer said of him, "Wonderful man! 
Wonderful man! He might become anything, even Prime Min- 
ister, if he would not talk so much." 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 191 

SAVIOUR OF THE UNION 

75. Abraham Lincoln was the most typical American. His 
individualism was personally characteristic; "he was copied from 
no model and founded on no example." "He blended and accen- 
tuated the American traits and stands out before the world pre- 
eminently the American of Americans. He was equally skilled 
in leading the leaders and getting into the hearts of the plain 
people. No other American ever so thoroughly understood or 
came so close to the great throbbing masses. He sprang from 
their ranks and he continued to be their soul. Concentrate the 
genius of the common people in one grand incarnation, refining 
and sublimating their essence to be then idealized in their adora- 
tion, and you call it Abraham Lincoln." 

He was born in Hardin Co., Ky., February 12, 1809, of Vir- 
ginian ancestry. He grew to manhood in a wild region "with 
many bears and other wild animals still in the woods." No 
qualification was required of his school teachers except "readin', 
writin' and the rule of three." There was absolutely nothing to 
excite ambition for education. But in spite of this he made the 
best of what the half educated teachers could impart, and by the 
time he was nineteen he had acquired sufficient business pro- 
ficiency to take a carload of farm prcwiucts to New Orleans for 
sale. In 1830 his father emigrated to Macon Co., 111., and young 
Lincoln, then an angular giant of six feet four, went with him 
to build the cabin, clear the fields and split the fence rails from 
the walnut forests. 

Once the farm was cleared he left his father, and engaging 
himself to a merchant, employed his leisure hours in reading and 
study. Both surveying and the principles of law interested him, 
but the outbreak of the Black Hawk war retarded his legal am- 
bitions, as he volunteered to become a soldier. In 1833 he was 
appointed postmaster of New Salem, 111., at the same time acting 
as deputy surveyor. In 1834 he headed his ticket for the legisla- 



192 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

ture of Illinois, and was thrice re-elected, resigning when he had 
served eight years. By this time he had attained some proficiency 
in law, and he formed a partnership with J. T. Stuart of Spring- 
field, to which place the state capitol had been removed due to 
his efforts while in the legislature. 

In 1846 he was elected to congress. His first bill provided for 
the emancipation of the slaves in the District of Columbia, but 
was beaten. He was not a candidate for re-election and returned 
to Illinois to his practice and to take up the leadership of the 
Whig party in his state. He regarded the repeal of the Missouri 
compromise as most treacherous, and began a series of discussions 
against slave rights in territories, that made him one of the lead- 
ing figures of the anti-slavery party. The conservative element 
of the Whigs was led by Senator Douglass, while the new or 
Republican party was led by Lincoln. In 1858 when Mr. Doug- 
lass sought re-election, the Republicans selected Lincoln as his 
antagonist. Lincoln challenged the senator to a series of joint 
discussions, which challenge the senator ' accepted. From this 
arose that remarkable series of arguments that have lived in 
American history. Senator Douglass defended popular sover- 
eignty (derisively called "squatter sovereignty") with great adroit- 
ness, but Mr. Lincoln's higher ethical and moral standards ulti-, 
mately won the popular favor. It was in the course of these de- 
bates that he uttered the prophetic and pregnant words: "A house 
divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government 
cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not 
expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to 
fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided." 

This debate established Mr. Lincoln's reputation as an orator 
and statesman, and he was nominated on the third ballot in the 
Republican convention of 1860, over Wm. H. Seward. As soon 
as the extreme partisans of the south learned of this, they began 
preparations for an insurrection, and a provisional government 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 193 

was formed for South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mis- 
sissippi, Louisiana and Texas, known as the Confederate States 
of America, with Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as president. 
Mr. Lincoln kept his own counsel and in his inaugural address 
treated the secession as a nullity. He declared the Union perpetu- 
ate and inviolate, and announced the government's intention to 
maintain its authority. He closed, with the following strain of 
peace and dignity: "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-coun- 
trymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. 
The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict 
without yourselves being the aggressors. You have no oath regis- 
tered in heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have a 
most solemn one to preserve it." 

The attack on Sumter was the southern answer, and hostilities 
too detailed for discussion here were entered upon. Of Mr. Lin- 
coln's measures, history records the wisdom. To the constant 
pressure of the abolitionists to make slavery the chief issue, he 
responded that "My paramount duty is to save the Union, and 
not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union 
without freeing any slave, I would do it; if I could save it by 
freeing all slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing 
some and leaving others alone, I would also do that." Eventually 
the emancipation measure became a practical source for weaken- 
ing the enemy resistance, and he gladly published the necessary 
proclamation, January 1, 1863. The following fall he urged the 
necessity of a constitutional amendment to back his decree, and 
on January 31, 1865, the 13th amendment was finally adopted. 
His careful diplomacy in the questions involving European na- 
tions, (ably seconded by his Secretary of State and former politi- 
cal rival, Mr. Seward), his strength on the draft question for mili- 
tary service, and his second inaugural address, stood as bright 
lights in the path of those devoted lovers of the Union who could 
not see that the sands of time were then drifting in their direction. 



194 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

The triumph of final victory and re-election were rudely 
snatched from his personal enjoyment, when a traitorous hand 
shot and then stabbed him to death on April 14, 1865. For one 
day the body lay in state, then the funeral train took him to 
Springfield to his final rest. 

Abraham Lincoln "had at once the flavor of the soil and the 
flight of the stars. When he rose to large endeavor he had what 
seemed to be almost Divine inspiration. Some of his papers in 
their simplicity, directness and strength are more like the epistles 
of Paul than anything else in literature. His speech was as lu- 
cent as crystal, because his thoughts were as clear as the sunbeam. 
He was filled with sublime thoughts which transformed them- 
selves into sublime words and sublime acts. His imperishable 
speech at Gettysburg, which will ever remain the noblest monu- 
ment of that immortal field, sprang from the greatness of his soul, 
and reflected his inmost being. His second inaugural rose to a 
moral elevation not reached outside of sacred deliverance, and 
the grand and lofty portraiture of the Supreme law of justice 
and retribution in God's universe, almost suggests the awful and 
mystic communion of Sinai. His example and his inspiration 
live for all time. The appreciation of his great personality and 
his true historic grandeur increases as we gain the juster per- 
spective of distance, and the sanctity of his memory will deepen 
in the hearts of his countrymen, as the sublimity of his service 
and the mystery of his martyrdom become more and more the 
loftiest legend of our national story." 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 195 

THE YORKSHIRE SQUIRE AT HIS BEST 

76. Situated in the fertile valley of the Swale in late eighteenth 
century Yorkshire, Thomas Booth's Killerby estate cradled the 
birth of that second dominant strain of Shorthorns to carry the 
standard of the red-white-and-roan to all corners of the earth. 
His foundation animals were acquired even prior to 1790, but he 
first tapped the CoLLiNG source about this year, when he secured 
from Robert Colling (94) the roan bull Twin Brother to Ben 
and one of his sons, both of his Hubback heritage. Unlike the 
famous founder of the Duchess tribes, his younger compatriot 
Thomas Bates (74), Booth felt no necessity to utilize the Col- 
ling females, and thereby stamped himself both more original 
and more independent than his worthy colleague. Robust consti- 
tution and a wealth of flesh-making capacity were his ideals. His 
cattle must be excellent grazers, but, from the first, breadth of 
back and thickness of loin outweighed all consi4erations of lacta- 
tive persistency. 

Mr. Booth's early bulls of Colling blood were followed by 
others from the same source, Suworrow, Pilot, Marshall Beresford 
and Albion. The latter bull in particular was successful in 
establishing that low down blockiness and round-ribbed cover that 
so distinguished the later Booth tribes. In the light of Thomas 
Bates, Mr. Booth was not a pedigree mater, but based his selec- 
tions almost wholly on the types of animals themselves. Excep- 
tional pains were taken in the introduction of the Colling stock 
to overcome defects and to fix the desirable beefing characteristics, 
and the resulting improvement led Mr. Booth gradually to be- 
come independent of the Colling support. With the opening of 
the new century, the Bakewell (78) formula was applied to his 
Fairholme tribes with eminent success, and a little later to the 
descendants of the yellowish red and white cow found on the 
Darlington market in 1797, Halnaby by Lame Bull (359). 



196 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

To the service of Albion, Halnaby produced Young Albion, 
the first of the Killerby bulls to be leased to another breeder. So 
successful was the first venture that it was ultimately adopted as 
the permanent herd policy. As a result, the Booth bulls of un- 
known ability were given ample opportunity in the herds of 
other men, and those that proved worthy could be recalled to 
Killerby or Warlaby for further use. 

The demands for agricultural products during the Napoleonic 
Wars brought sufficient prosperity to the Booth family to enable 
the elder son, Richard, to undertake a her^d of his own at Stud- 
ley farm, some fifteen miles south of Killerby. Here were taken 
a few of the choicest animals from the paternal herd, which with 
the well chosen purchases of Richard on Darlington market soon 
brought about new standards of achievement in the Booth ranks. 
In 1819, upon the marriage of the second son, John, Thomas 
Booth turned over old Killerby to filial management, and re- 
moved to his other estate of Warlaby located in the valley of the 
Wiske, where he remained until his retirement from Shorthorn 
activity about 1835. 

Like his cattle, Thomas Booth bred on. While his achieve- 
ments are classic, his sons, Richard and John, carried forward 
his work to even higher levels. So that when, after fifty years of 
intimate fellowship with the breed he loved, he passed the torch 
of progress into younger hands, he knew that his lifelong service 
was not terminating. His final sleep in 1836 found his face 
turned to the future, expectantly forecasting the triumphs of his 
Fairholmes, Annas, Bracelets and Strawberries, loved intimates 
of the half century gone by. 




THOMAS BOOTH 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 197 

AN AMERICAN ULYSSES 

77. Doggedness and persistence characterized the career and 
life of Ulysses S. Grant. The son of a tanner, he was born at 
Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822, As a youth he preferred 
the out-of-doors and instead of following his father in the tanning 
business, conducted the family farm, did teaming, and at intervals 
maintained a livery business between neighboring towns. He 
attended the village school an4 was given one year in the academy 
at Maysville, Ky. Ambitious to receive a higher training, he 
secured an appointment to the U. S. Military Academy. He 
proved to be a good mathematician and an excellent horseman, 
but only an average student. Following graduation he was bre- 
vetted and later commissioned a second lieutenant, which rank 
he held at the opening of the Mexican War. He volunteered to 
perform a hazardous messenger mission through the Mexican lines 
to bring up ammunition, which act, coupled with bravery in 
action, resulted in his promotion to first lieutenant. 

Following the war he was stationed at various places, but 
found the army life on the Pacific coast so uncongenial, that in 
spite of a promotion to captaincy, he resigned in 1854 and re- 
turned to civil life. In order to reach home he was forced to 
borrow $50 from his classmate, S. B. Buckner, and it is related 
that after the fall of Fort Donelson and the surrender of General 
Buckner, General Grant returned the courtesy of carfare home. 
Civil endeavors proved successful, and the opening of the War of 
Secession found him, after various misadventures, Colonel of 
the 21st Illinois infantry. 

In August, 1861, he was made a brigadier general of volun- 
teers, his commission being dated back three months. He was 
assigned to the command of the district of Southeastern Missouri 
with headquarters at Cairo, 111. In a series of actions, (Paducah, 
(Ky.), Belmont, (Mo.), Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Corinth, 
Pittsburg Landing, Shiloh, Vicksburg and some minor contests). 



198 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

he succeeded in opening up the Mississippi river for the Federal 
forces. This gave a new front of attack on the south, which ad- 
vantage he pursued after a vicarious period in which his com- 
mands were rapidly shifted and re-shifted. His successes at 
Chattanooga, Knoxville and Nashville, drove the Confederates out 
of Tennessee and made him a Lieutenant-General. On March 12, 
1864, he was given supreme command, and immediately initiated 
a pressure from all sides that resulted in final victory. The early 
successes were costly and subjected him to severe censure, to 
which came his famous reply, "I propose to fight it out on this 
line if it takes all summer." Sherman's march to the sea and 
thence northward cut off the Confederates from the south, Banks 
shut in Mobile and the central south, Sigel countered Brecken- 
ridge, Butler attacked Richmond and Meade covered Washing- 
ton. Sherman was particularly successful, as was Hunter who 
succeeded Sigel, and the Confederate armies were shut into Vir- 
ginia and the Carolinas. Constant attack, with varying immediate 
successes ultimately wore down first the Lee and then the Johns- 
ton resistance, and General Grant was acclaimed the victor. 

The reconstruction days developed sharp friction between 
President Johnson and General Grant, now a full general 
by act of Congress. Petty politics played some very ignoble 
roles in the War Department, but the Congressional backing 
was such that General Grant pulled through unscathed. In 
1868 he was elected president by a wide margin over Seymour, 
while some disappointed politicians forced Horace Greeley 
against him for the second term, only to receive a greater defeat. 
President Grant resumed specie payment on the federal debts, 
secured the funding of the war debt at lower interest rates 
through new bond issues, modified the Indian policy so that 
humanity and justice replaced brute force, secured the adoption 
of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, put competi- 
tive examinations into the Civil Service, and by armed force 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 199 

exterminated the unlawful bands that terrorized the communi- 
ties where colored and white conflicts were rife. His greatest 
diplomatic achievement was the referring of the Alabama claims 
against England to a court of arbitration in Geneva, Switzer- 
land, which act founded the permanent friendship of the two 
English-speaking nations. Following his presidency, he made 
a famous tour of the world during which he visited the rulers 
of each country through which he traveled. His later years 
were seriously impoverished by the business treachery of the 
junior partner of the New York firm of Grant & Ward, and 
only the publication of his autobiography brought sufficient 
funds to secure hia wife against real want. In 1884 cancer at 
the base of the tongue set in, and he passed away July 23, 1885. 
General Grant was as characteristic an American type as Wash- 
ington, Webster or Lincoln. His justice and steadfastness were 
traits that healed great breaches between the North and South 
during the reconstruction, and his death was mourned in both 
sections of the country. 



200 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

THE FOUNDER OF LIVESTOCK BREEDING 

78. Robert Bakewell was the pioneer artisan of modern live- 
stock breeding. Born in Leicestershire about 1725, he found 
early advantage over his contemporaries by a thorough educa- 
tion in anatomy, at that time in its very rudiments as a science. 
About 1750 he acceded to the management of his father's farm 
and immediately put into application the knowledge of animal 
form he had acquired in his earlier training. The livestock of 
his period were most heterogeneous, a condition brought about 
as a result of crossing Flemish stocks to both cattle and horses, 
and Spanish wools to sheep. His early breeding is veiled in 
darkest secrecy. He is reputed jealously to have excluded from 
his breeding pens those who would study his methods and results, 
and to have many times kept animals that would be barred from 
breeding use on other estates. Be that as it may, it is most 
likely probable that his apparent secrecy simply lay in his 
inability to explain in his earlier successes the reasons for the 
homogeneity which was attained by his inbreeding and the per- 
fection of type which accrued from his recognition of the rela- 
tion of external form to internal values. 

Robert Bakewell achieved success in each of the four prin- 
cipal races of livestock; Leicester sheep, Longhorn cattle, the 
Cart Horse (Shire), and the Small White pig. Due to the 
greater rapidity of generation, his greatest success was found 
in his sheep. In 1785 he had as many as eighty rams leased to 
Sheep Breeders' Associations in his own and adjacent counties 
and received as high as 300 guineas for the use of these rams 
for a season. His most celebrated ram, Two Pounder, is reputed 
to have earned 800 pounds in one year. His wide flung develop- 
ment of the sire leasing system provided one of the chief forces 
of advancement for the later British breeds. 

His successes in his Longhorns were scarcely so pronounced 
although in an Oxfordshire sale in 1791, several bulls of his 




ROBERT BAKEWELL 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 201 

breeding brought about $1,000 each, while two years later the 
sum of $2,000 was paid for one animal. His achievements so 
excited the surrounding breeders that they came to the ear of 
the King, and George Third honored this pioneer with a royal 
inquiry concerning his "new discovery in stock breeding." 

Robert Bakewell was clearly of a scientific mood and a 
research temperament. At Dishley Hall he maintained a museum 
wherein he preserved both skeletons and pickled joints illustrat- 
ing the results he had attained. Most of the exhibits were from 
the Leicesters, but one joint at least was a relic of the notable 
Old Comely that died at twenty-six years of age with a full 
four inch fat covering above his sirloin. As far as is known, 
Bakewell never enunciated his principles of breeding, but as 
crystallized from his experience one finds the following five 
axioms which have guided breeders of livestock for over a 
century : 

Like begets like. 

Variation exists in all stocks. 

Select an ideal type. 

Breed the best to the best. 

Inbreeding produces fixity of type, refinement and early 
maturity. 



202 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

ORATOR, PATRIOT, STATESMAN 

79. The first American statesman really to become prominent 
as a director of opposition, during the successes of Jefferson, 
Madison, Monroe and Jackson, was Daniel Webster, He was 
born in Salisbury (Now Franklin), N. H., January 18, 1782. 
As a child he was very sickly and was allowed much leisure 
time which he spent in fishing, hunting, roaming the woods and 
reading. His thirst for knowledge was insatiable, and he read 
every book that came within his reach, conning his favorite 
authors until their most salient thoughts were permanently 
stored in his memory. In 1796 he was sent to Exeter Academy 
where he overcame a natural timidity and developed a real 
gift as an orator. Although very poor, his father felt that there 
was great promise in young Daniel, and decided to send him 
to college. After six months preparation under a private tutor 
he entered Dartmouth where he graduated in 1801. While in 
college he was not considered a thorough scholar but his mem- 
ory was prodigious, and power of convincing statement 
unrivalled. He became recognized as a remarkable speaker, 
and, although at the time an undergraduate, he was selected by 
the Hanover townspeople to deliver the Fourth of July oration 
in 1800. 

After leaving college he read law with Senator Thomas W. 
Thompson in Salisbury, and taught school at Fryeburg, Me., 
for a few months in order to send his brother Ezekiel to college. 
In 1804 he removed to Boston where he entered the office of 
Christopher Gore, as student and clerk. One year later he 
was admitted to the bar and practiced his profession at Bos- 
cawen, N. H. In 1807 he turned his business over to his brother 
Ezekiel and located in Portsmouth, where his reputation as a 
barrister grew rapidly. He was soon considered a worthy antag- 
onist to Jeremiah Mason, one of the ablest lawyers produced 
in America. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 203 

His first important political pamphlet was a criticism on the 
embargo laws, published in 1808. In 1812 he made a speech 
in Portsmouth which summarized the objections of the New 
Englanders to the war just declared against Great Britain. This 
speech brought him wide recognition as an orator and in 1813 
he took his seat in Congress, being made a member of the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations. In 1816 he moved to Boston, and 
at the expiration of his second term of Congress in 1817, he 
retired to private life. He built up his law practice and soon 
found himself at the head of the American Bar. The tariff of 
1828 furnished an occasion for the display of Mr. Webster's 
strong Federalist spirit, and he earned undying fame as an 
orator and statesman. His reply to Hayne, January 25, 1830, 
has been characterized as the most genuinely powerful oration 
delivered since that of Demosthenes on the crown. In 1839 
he visited England, gaining a cordial reception and sincere 
admiration. 

He was appointed Secretary of State in 1840 under William 
Henry Harrison, and showed a remarkable ability and diplo- 
macy. Owing to a quarrel between the Northern and Southern 
Whigs following the death of President Harrison, all 
of the members of the cabinet, except Mr. Webster, resigned 
in an effort to force President Tyler to resign. Webster was 
involved in a series of negotiations with Great Britain, on the 
treaty concerning the Canadian border, and felt that he should 
finish this problem before abandoning his portfolio. The 
Whigs attributed this failure to back them up to unworthy 
motives and as soon as the treaty was signed, opened severe 
newspaper attack requiring his resignation. Once the treaty 
was firmly established he responded to their challenge and 
resumed his law practice in Boston. Two years later he was 
elected to the Senate and took an active part in opposing 
the incipient movements of that day to disrupt the Union. On 



204 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

President Taylor's death in 1850 he became once more Secre- 
tary of State, under President Fillmore. He was candidate 
for presidential nomination in 1852 but was defeated by both 
President Fillmore and General Scott. His health began 
to fail rapidly and on September 8, he left Washington for his 
home in Marshfield. His death occurred October 24, 1852. 

For sheer power of intellect and personality, Daniel Webster 
stands without equal in American history. His independence 
of thought and his tremendous personal courage have been a 
source of inspiration to hun<lreds of young lawyers since his 
day, and his example has furnished consolation to more than 
one statesman who has braved popular opposition. His demeanor 
and carriage exhibited a loftiness of ideals that won respect 
and confidence in any company, and he died admired both by 
British an4 American statesmen and literary men. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 205 

A MAN OF A THOUSAND TALENTS 

80. "A long green coat with velvet collar and big yellow but- 
tons, a colored handkerchief, long yellow cashmere vest, knee- 
breeches, very wide top boots, and plain black hat," thus cata- 
logs Wm, McCombie the "plain" dress of the gentleman of Ury, 
Capt. Barclay. He was acknowledgedly the greatest all around 
sportsman of his day, active in fox hunt, prize ring, and local 
regiment, performer with courser and coach, claimant to the 
earldom of Airth and Monteith, apologist for Quaker and finan- 
cier for tenant farmer, the very cornerstone of the Shorthorn 
foundation in Aberdeenshire. Of manly scope himself, all of 
his operations breathed of bigness. "His cattle must be up to 
their knees in grass and his wheat-wagons with four or six horses 
and the drag on seemed like an earthquake to the Aberdonians 
when they rumbled down Marischal street to the harbor. Well 
might the surveyor tremble by reason of them for the safety 
of the Old Bridge." McCoMBlE asserts that "his horses were 
the strongest and his fields the largest in the country. He once 
said that he did not like a field in which the cattle could see 
one another every day." Ury embraced some 4,000 acres, of 
which four hundred were in highest tilth, reclaimed from the 
stony littoral of the Grampians' Pleistocene. 

His Shorthorn operations opened in 1822, but his success was 
grounded in the purchase of Lady Sarah in the dispersion of 
Mason of Chilton's herd in 1829. Her son Monarch, dropped 
soon after her arrival at Ury, was rebred to her and from this 
union came the foundation bulls of Ury's success, the notable 
Mahommed and Sovereign. Sold out of the herd, the former 
bull was repurchased on the basis of his breeding successes 
elsewhere, and remained in the herd until 1841. In 1838 the 
first herd, with the exception of Mahommed, was dispersed to 
tide the Captain over financial difficulties, some eighty head real- 
izing a total of 3,000 guineas. The Lady Sarah blood was par- 



206 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

ticularly valuable, three heifers sired by Monarch bringing over 
$500 apiece. Two years was as long as the Captain could 
abstain from Shorthorn operations, however, and in 1840 he 
once more established his herd with Mahommed as its head. 
But the new herd was shortlived and its excellence hardly up 
to the standard of the original Lady Sarah collection. On Sep- 
tember 22, 1847, the final dispersion took place under the gavel 
of William Wetherell (83). 

His athletic achievements were his pride. At a coursing meet- 
ing where he first met Hugh Watson, he discovered a man after 
his own heart, and according to DixoN "asked him as if it was 
a highly intellectual treat, 'Would you like to see me strip 
tonight and feel my muscle?' " He once walked 1,000 miles 
in 1,000 hours on a wager. He drove the "Defiance," a coach 
in which he had both sporting and financial interest, all the 
miles from London to Aberdeen, some 500, without leaving the 
box. He won thereby a bet of £1,000, and was so flushed with 
victory that upon a friend's remark that he must be tired he 
rejoined, "I have £1,000 that says I can drive back to London 
again, starting in the morn." He bred a famous race of game 
fowls, an4 always backed his birds to the limit for pit victories. 

A close friend epitomizes him as "a great eater, a man of 
fine simple faith and always in condition," and "The Druid" 
closes his career as follows: 

"On New Year's Day he had always his friends to dinner, 
and he sat obscured to the chin behind the round of beef which 
two men brought in on a trencher. Mr. Kinnear was the per- 
petual Vice and everybody made a speech. The Captain's was 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 207 

quite an oration or rather resume of the year, and concluded 
with a special eulogium of those who 'have died since our last 
anniversary.' Not infrequently he killed one or two before 
their time, perhaps more from a little dry humor than by mis- 
take; and then he begged their pardon and said, 'it did'nt matter 
much.' For some time before his death he had suffered slightly 
from paralysis; but a kick from a pony produced a crisis, and 
two days after when they went to awake him on the May morn- 
ing of '54, he was found dead in bed. He lies in the cemetery 
of Ury, about a mile from his old home — the trainer of pugilists 
with the gentle apologist for Quakers — and his claim to the 
earWom of Airth and Monteith seemed to die out with him." 



208 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A KNIGHT OF BRITISH AGRICULTURE 

81. In Britain during the last century, there were many men 
whose showyard and farming successes elicited the commenda- 
tion and reward of loyalty. From only one man, however, came 
such breadth and definiteness of achievement as to result in 
knighthood. This notable contributor to rural welfare was the 
late Sir Walter Gilbey of Elsenham Hall. On the recommen- 
dation of Edward the VII, then Prince of Wales, Queen Vic- 
toria put her pen to the necessary papers to make him a Bar- 
onet, in recognition of his distinguished achievements in horse 
breeding, the literature of livestock and general agriculture. 
The copy of his portrait by Sir W. Pugh Orchardson that 
hangs on the Club walls was prepared by Artist Nyholm. The 
original portrait was paid for by the subscriptions of over 
twelve hundred different people; Americans, Canadians, Aus- 
tralians, Scots and Irish, joining with native Britishers in this 
testimonial. Sir Walter received the portrait publicly in 1891, 
at the Royal Agricultural Hall in London. The ceremonies 
were under the direction of Duke of Portland, Master of Horse 
to the Crown, and the presentation was at the hand of the Prince 
of Wales. 

Sir Walter Gilbey's origins were humble; his father was 
a stagecoach driver on the run between Essex and Whitechapel, 
and every childhood influence directed him toward the equine 
world. His first business undertakings were in the sale and 
buying of horses, a business that soon developed into a great 
agricultural and mercantile trade. From early poverty he 
attained enormous wealth and his money was freely spent to 
procure rural advancement. From the beginning his interest 
lay in the production of Shires, Hackneys, Hunters and Ponies. 
It is related that his first horse was purchased from his small 
winnings at cribbage while on a non-military mission in the 
Crimea. In order to secure the time to play, he traded his rum 




SIR WALTER GILBEY 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 209 

ration to thirsty soldiers for their candle issues. Among his 
earliest ventures was the opening of a wine shop from which 
he stepped into the position of wholesale wine merchant. This 
latter business developed to such an extent that in his latest 
years his taxes amounted to five million dollars annually. 

An earnest student of breeding practice, his interest in the 
origin and source of British types was insatiable, and the results 
of his researches are recorded in the pamphlets and books he 
has published. Most of these were published from the press 
of Vinton & Co., agricultural publishers, a corporation in which 
he hel4 much capital stock, and to whose London Livestock 
Journal he devoted some attention in his later years. 

The English Cart Horse, the Hackney and the Hunter were 
rescued from deterioration and perhaps oblivion through his 
good offices. He gathered a group of interested men and re- 
established the Shire Horse Stud Book of England. As earnest 
of his interest, he paid $4,300 for the stallion Spark at a crucial 
period in Shire market values. He was elected president of the 
Shire Horse Society and through his widespread interest suc- 
ceeded in having the Royal Commission on Horse Breeding 
established. In 1894 he paid $25,000 for the Hackney stallion 
Danegelt in order to prevent his exportation, and placed him 
in service at Elsenham stud. Although this horse lived but three 
seasons thereafter, his investment proved most profitable, since 
the Danegelt blood has dominated showyard pedigrees ever 
since. His equipment for harness horses was one of the most 
complete and original in the entire world, his arrangement of 
paddocks and his equipment of riding and driving schools being 
recognizedly superlative in Britain. 

Sir Walter was president of the Hackney Horse Society, the 
Hunter Improvement Society, the Polo Pony Society, the Shet- 
land Pony Society, the Essex Agricultural Society, and the 
Smithfield Club. He was the originator of the annual London 



210 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Cart Horse Parade, probably the most imposing draft display in 
existence. 

An earnest student of the problems of land owner and tenant 
in Britain, his contributions to rural uplift were of the practical 
sort. It is related that in erecting cottages for his tenants he 
insisted that the wash house and the coal hole be built apart 
from the cottage. "No man wants to come home to his dinner 
or his supper, and find the place full of steam and soapsuds." 
His portrait rightly hangs beside those of other masters of an 
early agriculture, since his public recognition was more wide- 
spread and his achievements more immediately rewarded. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 211 

A PATRON SAINT OF AlVTERICAN STOCK BREEDING 

82, Woodburn Farm is a name to conjure with among those 
devoted students of the art of breeding who builded the hus- 
bandry of the last half of the nineteenth century. Robert A. 
Alexander and his brother, A. J. Alexander, were natives of 
Scotland, but early in life purchased a princely estate at Wood- 
burn, Woodford Co., Kentucky, a few miles west of Lexington. 
Housing and stabling of stone brought something of the Scot- 
tish permanence to the high tilthed acres of the farm, and noth- 
ing was omitted to give grace and worth to this notable estate. 
Two breeds of livestock, trotting horses and Shorthorn cattle 
vie with each other in proclaiming the fulness of debt they owe 
to the Alexanders. In the history of the American trotters who 
can surpass the romance of Alexander's Abdallah, ridden to 
death by the Morgan raiders, or who can rival the breeding 
annals of Miss Russell, dam of sixteen foals. By Harold, half- 
brother both of the ill starred Abdallah and the ever illustrious 
George Wilkes, she produced eight foals, among them the cham- 
pion Maud S., while from Belmont, Abdallah's supreme son, 
came eight more foals with the magnificent Nutwood as pre- 
mier. Who can vie with the endurance of the great four-mile 
Thoroughbred runner, Lexington? The sources of broodmare 
excellence were cradled in this farm. Sally, Lady Russell, and 
Water Witch, how these names stir the memory of the harness 
lover, whether he be breeder or track follower, and yet how 
these mares contributed not only to the harness bloodlines, but 
also to the Thoroughbreds and runners of Kentucky's palmiest 
days. 

Modern agriculture was reached through Shorthorn, Jersey, 
Cotswold and South<Iown. Today the venerated bluegrass 
swards of Kentucky and Tennessee are dotted white with the 
rich meated products of the master hands of Ellman and Webb, 
bequeathed through the genius of the master of Woodburn. But 



212 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

it was in the Shorthorn that Mr. Alexander displayed his clear- 
est genius as a constructive shaper of bovine destiny. In the 
winter of 1852-53, the two Alexanders visited Great Britain 
with the determination to lay foundations for a great Shorthorn 
herd. Sixty-eight cows and heifers and fifteen bulls, evidenced 
the thoroughness and the permanence of their intentions. From 
two of these animals Mr. Alexander produced Duchess of Air- 
drie, the first of the great line that played such a noteworthy 
role in American Shorthorn industry. Further importations 
only strengthened the foundation stock, and Woodburn became 
the nursery for much that was historic in the adolescent days 
of American breeding. Few pedigree matings were planned to 
concentrate the bloods of the individual strains, but the spec- 
ulations which became rife in Airdrie bloodlines found their 
sources in other herds. Throughout the Civil War the herd 
prospered in the custody of J. M. Woodruff in Indiana, and 
the period of expansion of post-bellum days found Woodburn 
in a position to dominate the bloodlines of the new herds of 
Illinois, Iowa and the Central West. In the 60's, Mr. Alex- 
ander's herd had become so firmly established that more than 
one return importation was made to England, particularly of 
the Dukes of Airdrie. R. A. Alexander died December 1, 1867, 
but his brother continued the operations at Woodburn until well 
toward the close of the century. While no such constructive 
achievements were attained in all breeds as in the Shorthorn, 
it is noteworthy that the Woodburn contributions to Jersey 
breeding were large factors in the extension of this breed 
throughout the South, and that their importation and distribu- 
tion of Cotswolds did much to further long wool interests at a 
time when strong moral and financial backing was needed. As 
a nursery of improved livestock, Woodburn stands supreme in 
American agricultural history, and its peer has not yet been 
developed. 




ROBERT A. ALEXANDER 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 213 

A RARE OLD WORTHY OF THE BRITISH AUCTION BLOCK 

83. "The Nestor" of the notable fraternity which centered in 
the Tees valley of the 18th and early 19th centuries was the 
redoubtable William Wetherell. No one knew more of the 
original bovine divinities, no one entered more fully into the 
confidence of the early directors of Durham destinies, and no 
one had more abiding faith or courage in the future of the red, 
white and roan. Three times did natural or economic exigen- 
cies deprive Mr. Wetherell of the rewards of his labor, and 
four times with undiminished courage did he build up a Short- 
horn herd. His stimulus was first received in 1810 at the Ketton 
dispersal, while Barmpton's first public vendue, eight years later, 
ofifered him the opportunity for his initial purchases. 

At Aldro, Mr. Wetherell developed a wellspring of com- 
mercial interests and optimism accessible to all the members 
of that early bovine brotherhood. His herdsman, John Ward, 
was a master of showyard wizardry, despite the severe competi- 
tion. Wetherell himself was an auctioneer of nation wide 
repute and served at many a notable offering. In 1847 he 
closed out Barclay's (80) second Ury herd an4 was extremely 
popular with many another of the Shorthorn worthies. He was 
a constant and liberal buyer, never hesitating to push prices 
to the top. Bad luck never discouraged him and he met with 
truest bravery the almost instantaneous loss of twenty-four cows 
from pleuro-pneumonia. At another time he was forced to sacri- 
fice the best bull he ever possessed as a result of developing a 
dangerous temper. 

At his dispersion he spoke trenchantly of "auld acquaentance," 
an4 the old blue bullock-van that had transported the "Cumber- 



214 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

land Ox" over the countryside was catalog and counting house 
for the settlement of the sale responsibilities. Wetherell was 
aggressive and persistent, and both among his colleagues and the 
younger generation of breeders, he was a never failing source 
of facts on Shorthorn beginnings. His ideas of type were inflex- 
ible; he fought the craze for mere elephantism and preached 
powerfully of rugged constitutions. He was one of the best 
judges of his day and a notable proponent of the red, white 
and roan in public debate and private argument. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 215 

"FIRST FARMER OF ENGLAND" 

84. Success has always come to him who has both brains and 
property. This is the tale of a farmer who rose by brains and 
without property, a tenant farmer who ultimately earned the 
title of the "first farmer of England." William Torr was of 
Lincolnshire. He gained the qualifications that ultimately 
earned him his enviable sobriquet by mastering completely, 
one stage at a time, each of the practices necessary for perfec- 
tion in farm management. First of all, he wrought with the 
soil, and worked on the best methods of tillage until to equal 
his crops became the despair of his brother tenants of the east 
of England. He then took up sheep, selecting the breed of 
Bakewell (78) and show and market alike gave unstinted appro- 
bation to his carcasses and fleeces. 

These successes made it possible for him to take up the breed- 
ing of Shorthorns, and in 1844 he opened his real career as 
cattle breeder by leasing the famous Leonard of Booth breed- 
ing. Mr. Torr had an ultimate ideal in mind and selected con- 
tinuously toward it. Smooth laid shoulder, wide flung fore- 
ribs, powerful loins and wealth of flesh represented his ideal 
in form, while mellow touch and furry coat were as distinctly 
his concept of cover. At the Kirklevington dispersion of 1849, 
Mr. Torr found much of merit in the Waterloos, and developed 
the strain in his own herd by crossing on Booth bulls. 

Mr. Torr once said "it takes thirty years for any man to make 
a herd and bring it to one's notion of perfection." He devoted 
just that length of time to Shorthorn cattle, when his death 
occurred in 1875. From all over the kingdom came purchasers 
to Aylesby, and even though accommodations had been prepared 



216 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

for fifteen hundred guests, and a sale canvas set up to accom- 
modate two thousand buyers, the crowds so overwhelmed the 
vicinity that the scene has never been paralleled in agricultural 
history. Mr. Torr's eighty-five head of Aylesby production 
brought a total of over $243,000, the cattle going to Scotland, 
Ireland and New Zealand. Many of the best were taken to 
Warlaby to rejuvenate and refresh the Booth stocks, overdone 
by years of showyard fitting. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 217 

THE WONDER WORKER OF KILLERBY 

85. The fashioning of the stocks that carried on the rich 
improvements of the Shorthorn breed wrought by the Colling's 
fell largely into the hands of Thomas Bates (74) and the Booth 
family (76). While both believed in the fundamental excel- 
lence of the Favorite-Hubback blood, there were vital differ- 
ences in the way the pedigrees were handled, and the Booths 
had recourse to the Colling foundation only through the males, 
depending on the stock of the surrounding country for the 
females. Beginning with the elder Booth in 1790, the family 
was intimately interested in the development of better Short- 
horns for a period of nearly ninety years, each generation 
stamping its individuality on the herd. The work of Thomas 
Booth Sr. was carried on separately by his two sons, Richard 
at Studley and later at the paternal estate of Warlaby, and John 
at Killerby. John Booth's showyard successes were tremen- 
dous and his sale of stock throughout the thirties and forties 
so prodigious that he almost never could meet his demands. 

When John Booth laid aside his mantle of achievement, he 
left to his son, Thomas C. Booth, perhaps one of the most 
difficult tasks a young breeder has ever faced. The Bates blood 
was in its ascendancy, and while showyard and tenant farmer 
in Britain had accorded the highest recognition to the practical 
qualities of the Booth cattle, the "fashionableness" of the 
Duchesses and their corresponding sale values were undeniable. 
Furthermore the great days of his uncle Richard had arrived 
and he had scant hope for recognition in the face of the really 
notable achievements of the Warlaby herds. With spirit of the 
true soldier, however, he buckled to his task, and as he received 
some assistance in the way of show animals from his Uncle 
Richard following his father's dispersion sale of 1852, he early 
gained a nucleus on which to build. On his father's death in 
1857, he became the dominant figure in the Killerby herd. 



218 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

When, too, his uncle passed on in 1864, he succeeded to most 
of the Warlaby animals and reunited such of the Booth strains 
as had become separated during the previous years. During 
the succeeding five years the Booth herds reached the height 
of their show career. At the Royal of 1868 the two breed cham- 
pions came from Killerby, Commander-in-Chief and Lady 
Fragrant, and in 1869 at the last appearance of the Booths at 
the Royal, Lady Fragrant was again supreme. 

Long periods of showing and high fitting had adversely 
affected the Booth stock, however, and there was a marked 
decrease in the fertility of the herd. Whether this was due to 
the effect of the conditioning of the animals or whether in the 
search for the meatiest, animals that were pathologically fat 
had been retained, is unknown, but there is little doubt that 
the herd stood in need of regeneration. The only certain source 
of Booth quality outside of Killerby itself was found in the 
herd of William Torr (84) and hence at the Aylesby Manor dis- 
persion of 1875, following Mr. Torr's death, T. C. Booth was 
both a liberal and constructive bidder. During the two or three 
years immediately preceding this purchase the Killerby herd 
had been ravaged by foot and mouth disease, hence Mr. Booth's 
problem was more than a pedigree one. 

From thenceforward until his death in 1878, Mr. Booth's 
progress was phenomenal, exports to America being numerous 
and the Irish demand insatiable. The last of a family of 
masters, Thomas C. Booth bridged the period of incubation 
in England's north country and carried successfully into modern 
time the standards and ideals so ably formulated by his notable 
ancestors. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 219 

FATHER OF OUR COUNTRY 

86. General George Washington, first president of the 
United States, was born at Pope's Creek, Westmoreland Co., 
Va,, February 22, 1732. His great grandfather, John Washing- 
ton, was a Yorkshireman, and crossed to Virginia in 1657. The 
family was prominent in the history of the province, each gen- 
eration contributing materially to its social, political and eco- 
nomic life. Tradition records that the future statesman's boy- 
hood was guided by an unusually devoted mother of scrupulous 
fidelity and firmness. To her is due his retention as an Ameri- 
can, for his older half-brother secured for him a warrant in the 
British navy as midshipman, and he only forewent its acceptance 
on her earnest remonstrance. 

His school work prepared him for a surveyor and from the 
age of sixteen until nineteen he employed himself at this pro- 
fession. His surveys of the Allegheny valleys and hills con- 
stituted a remarkable contribution to the provincial organiza- 
tion and some of his benchmarks serve as bases for the modern 
division of land in Virginia. 

In 1851 he was commissioned an adjutant of the Virginia 
militia with the rank of major, and although he journeyed 
shortly thereafter to the West Indies with his half-brother 
Lawrence, he was ultimately given charge of one of the grand 
military divisions of the province. The death of Lawrence per- 
mitted him to succeed to Mt. Vernon and he began a series of 
agricultural operations whose details will be recounted later. 

The French and Indian Wars established his military repu- 
tation. His trip to the Ohio Valley to interview the commander 
of the French forces as an emissary of Governor Dinwiddie 
permitted him to learn much of the country and tactics of 
savage warfare, and "from that moment," says Washington 
Irving, "he was the rising hope of Virginia." His defense of 
Fort Necessity and his service as aide-de-camp to General 



220 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Braddock enhanced his prestige, while the reduction of Ft. 
Duquesne made him America's military leader. In 1759 the 
wars had ceased sufficiently so that he was enabled to marry 
Martha Custis, one of the wealthiest widows of Virginia, and. 
to indulge his agricultural tastes. He became a member of the 
Virginia house of burgesses, and took an earnest interest in 
politics, but "it is not known that he ever made a set speech 
or entered into a stormy debate." He was one of Virginia's 
delegates to the first and second Continental Congresses. On 
the return from the first congress a friend inquired of Patrick 
Henry whom he considered the greatest man in the congress. 
Henry's reply has gone into history: "K you speak of elo- 
quence, Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina, is by far the greatest 
orator; but if you speak of solid information and sound judg- 
ment, CoL, Washington is undoubtedly the greatest man on 
that floor." 

He was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental 
forces by the second congress, a position he accepted with sin- 
cerity and humility. . His service from the successful siege of 
Boston to the surrender of Yorktown continually demonstrated 
his military prowess. After his masterly defense of the Dela- 
ware, Frederick the Great declared his campaign "the most 
brilliant achievement recorded in military annals," while some 
years later he sent General Washington a portrait of himself 
inscribed in his own handwriting as follows: "From the oldest 
general in Europe to the greatest general in the world." 

His indignant refusal of a crown and his patriotic adjust- 
ment of the difficulties of the army over lack of pay, made him 
a statesman at a time when partisanship ran rampant. In 1794 
he announced as his principles of a sound government, to make 
the United States an independent power, "First, an indissoluble 
union of the states under one federal head; second, a sacred 
regard for public justice; third, the adoption of a proper peace 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 221 

establishment; and fourth, the prevalence of that pacific and 
friendly disposition among the people of the United States which 
will induce them to forget their local prejudices and policies, 
to make those mutual concessions which are requisite to the 
general prosperity, and in some instances to sacrifice their indi- 
vidual advantages to the interest of the community. These are 
the pillars on which the glorious fabric of our independence 
and national character must rest." For a period of five years 
he was able again to pursue his beloved agriculture and enter- 
tained widely with hunts and explorations. He headed the Vir- 
ginia delegation to the Constitutional Convention and was unani- 
mously chosen the first president and as unanimously re-elected. 
His service in uniting the warring Federalists and Republicans 
for constructive upbuilding, his two inaugural and his farewell 
addresses, his neutrality policy in the Franco-British war of the 
closing century, his recognition of all sections of the country 
in his appointments to ofifice, and his triumphal visits to the 
north and south, served to build him an irreplacable affection 
in the hearts of his countrymen. 

His last public service came when French war threatened, 
and he was made commander of the American army in 1798 
with the rank of Lieutenant-General. Fortunately the war was 
averted. He died December 14, 1799, following a severe expo- 
sure in a rainstorm while overseeing his estate. 

George Washington may truly be called America's first 
scientific agriculturist. He maintained an intimate correspond- 
ence with that noted early English writer on rural affairs, 
Arthur Young, and in his correspondence evidenced a knowl- 
edge not only far above the average of the day, but equivalent 
in its sum total to that of the last mid-century. Before the 
Revolution he conducted some very interesting experiments on 
manuring, trying out each spring the rate of growth for his seed 
of that year in small boxes differently treated. Soil conserve- 



222 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

tion and soil erosion were problems he was continually fight- 
ing, and he made extraordinary efforts to preserve the texture 
of the soils along the river banks. His Mt. Vernon estate 
amounted to over eight thousand acres, and was subdivided into 
five farms, the home farm being called Mansion House Farm. 
In 1760 his principal crops were clover, rye, grass, hops, tre- 
foil, timothy, and speltz. His operations as a livestock man 
were particularly comprehensive. He raised cattle, sheep, swine, 
horses, deer, turkeys, and geese, with his greatest interest in 
sheep, horses and mules. At this day it is rather curious to 
find negroes listed among the livestock products of his farm. 
General Washington kept stallions for public service, prin- 
cipally of the Arab breed, but he also in his later days had a 
few Narragansett pacers. General Washington imported a 
number of sheep from England, mostly rams, these animals 
being of the Dishley-Leicester breed, originated by Robert 
Bakewell (72). He was the first breeder of mules in America, 
having imported several Spanish jacks, and was presented with 
a pair of Bedford pigs by a British Admiral, which had an 
important influence in the foundation of the Chester White 
breed of swine. 

Modest, disinterested, generous and just, he sought nothing 
for himself in the way of public favor, and declined all public 
reimbursement beyond his original outlays, scrupulously 
accounted for. What better eulogy has ever been written than 
Richard Henry Lee's "First in war, first in peace and first in 
the hearts of his countrymen." 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 223 

DREAMS OF "THE DOWNS" THAT CAME TRUE 

87. Wherever the revivifying influence of carcass making 
sheep have gone, there can be traced the blood of one or the 
other of the two founts of mutton improvement, the Dishley 
Leicester or the Southdown of Sussex. The changing demands 
of earlier maturity and small retail cuts with the highest pos- 
sible thickness of rich red flesh has gradually given a prepon- 
derant influence to the sheep of the chalk hills of Sussex. Two 
men builded largely in the founding of this strain; John Ell- 
MAN of Glynde in its formative years, and Jonas Webb of Babra- 
ham in the days of its ascendancy. 

The Southdown is perhaps the purest type that has come down 
to modern sheep husbandry. Not a step in its improvement can 
be traced to the influx of alien blood, while it has been a con- 
tributory force to Shropshire, Oxford, Hampshire and almost 
every other Down breed that has marked individuality today. 
By careful selection and breeding systems based on the Bake- 
well formula, the Southdown achieved its wondrous carcass 
worth. It is to modern sheep husbandry what the Berkshire 
is to swinedom, the Thoroughbred to the turf, and the old Flem- 
ish stock to modern beeves. 

For years Babraham was the source of improvement of hun- 
dreds of flocks in old England, and royalty and tenant alike 
patronized Jonas Webb to benefit from his monumental achieve- 
ments. Extension and distribution of the breed were fostered 
through the exhibition of choice specimens at district and national 
shows, and wherever they went the Babraham pens received the 
bulk of attention. Successes at the earlier Paris Universal expo- 
sitions were inevitable and one particularly fine group attracted 
the attention of Emperor Napoleon Third, Mr. Webb chanced 
to be on hand and to the enthusiastic request of the French ruler, 
as to their ownership, he diplomatically replied, "Yours, your 
Majesty, if you will accept them." The gift was graciously 



224 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

received and shortly after a magnificent chest of silver arrived 
at Babraham with the compliments of the Emperor. 

In 1838 Mr. Webb cast his lot with Shorthorn cattle and bred 
them with an individuality all his own until his death in 1862. 
At this time some hundred and fifty animals were present in 
the herd and the dispersal brought prices ranging up to the 
$2,000 for the bull Lord Chancellor. Numbers were exported 
to Prussia, Austria and Australia, while some of his earlier 
breeding successes found future opportunity in America. 

Jonas Webb was a man of impressive originality, and among 
a galaxy of long-sighted, broad visioned geniuses in Britain 
during the last century, he stands on his own merit, a most 
successful breeder and a most permanently constructive artisan. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 225 

AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

88. The third president of the United States was Thomas 
Jefferson. His family had been in Virginia for a century and 
a quarter at the time of his birth, April 2, 1743, their pursuits 
being purely agricultural. On the death bed, his father, George 
Jefferson, when Thomas was fourteen, left an injunction that 
he should be educated at William and Mary College. In after 
life he often stated that if he were forced to choose between 
the education and the estate his father left him, he would let 
the latter go. He was a prodigious scholar, excelling in math- 
ematics and the sciences, a skilled violinist, and a robust athlete. 
His professor. Dr. Small, friend of Erasmus Darwin, "prob- 
ably fixed the destinies" of his life. On graduation he entered 
upon the study of law under the guidance of the Virginia jurist, 
George Wythe. In April, 1764, he acceded to the management 
of his father's estate and gave most of his attention to the culti- 
tivation and improvement of his lands. In 1767 he was admitted 
to the bar, but throughout his political life he always main- 
tained himself to be professionally a farmer, and steered clear 
of all alliances and interests that would bias his judgment. 

In 1769 he was elected to the Virginia house of burgesses, 
but since on the third day of the session resolutions against the 
stamp act were adopted, the royal governor forthwith dissolved 
it. In 1774 he prepared the "Draught of Instructions" for the 
delegates to the Continental congress, which denied the right 
of the electors of Britain to rule over the colonies, since the 
colonial legislators could not pass laws affecting Britain. 
Thomas Jefferson was a member of the committee that drew 
up Virginia's military defense plan and in 1775 was sent to 
Congress where he was appointed chairman of the committee 
of five that drafted the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Jef- 
ferson himself did the writing, but many emendations and 
improvements were made by the Congress. He always insisted 



226 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

that its final adoption was hastened by the heat and the swarms 
of flies from a nearby stable that literally drove the delegates 
from the room. He was on the committee that suggested the 
"E pluribus unum" motto for the newly founded federation. 

After the declaration he returned to Virginia where he actively 
set about the reforms necessary to make that colony conform 
to the spirit of the July 4th document. He refused a commis- 
sionership to Paris in company with Franklin and Deane, in 
order to prosecute this work. As a legislator he secured the 
laws holding Virginia lands in fee simple and permitting their 
sale for debt and he divorced the church and state, declaring 
the "government has nothing to do with opinion," and "it is 
error alone which needs the support of government; truth can 
stand by itself." He devised the system of courts of law and 
prescribed their powers and methods; he caused the removal 
of the capitol to Richmond!; he extirpated the law of primogeni- 
ture; he abolished the cruel punishments of the ancient code; 
and he made the beginnings of a system of public education. 
In 1779 he was elected Governor and managed the colony during 
the difficult days of the Gates and Cornwallis campaigns. 

In 1783 he was elected to Congress where he assisted in the 
adoption of the decimal system for currency. The following 
year he was sent to Paris and in 1785 succeeded Franklin as 
chief plenipotentiary. The wrongs of the French peasants bore 
bitterly into his heart and made him ever thereafter an unswerv- 
ing democrat. He successfully endeavored to break the French 
protective tariff and open up her markets to American agricul- 
tural products, and he sent to America seeds, roots, nuts, and 
information of agricultural importance. He became acquainted 
with the naturalist Buffon, an4 supplied him with American 
zoological specimens, at the same time developing a facility in 
osteology and palaeontology that made him a real contributor 
to the science of fossils on his return to America. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 227 

The Bastile had fallen when he was given six months leave. 
He arrived at Monticello to learn that he had been appointed 
Secretary of State under Washington at the princely salary of 
$3,500. But he was ill at ease, since he found Hamilton and 
the Federalist party looking on the new government as only a 
temporary expedient, lacking strength for permanency. Since 
his lesson in France had taught him the overwhelming need for 
equal justice, he could <Io naught but oppose this movement. 
In 1794 he retired to Monticello. 

The Presidential election of 1800 resulted in a tie between 
himself and Aaron Burr and through the good offices of his 
erstwhile opponent, Alexander Hamilton, he received the elec- 
tion in Congress. He abolished the alien and sedition law, dis- 
patched Decatur to overawe the Barbary pirates, and purchased 
from Bonaparte the great Louisiana territory. His first term 
was extremely peaceful, but the difficulties with England and 
Spain several times came nearly to a head in his second presi- 
dential period, and his embargo method of meeting it not only 
ruined himself financially, but also stirred up bitter critics of 
the administration. 

His last days were spent at Monticello under a cloud of debt, 
and he died on the Fourth of July, 1826, fifty years after signing 
the Declaration of Independence and only a few hours before 
John Adams, the second president, passed away. His greatest 
public work following the presidency was the securing of an 
appropriation for a state university and the personal superin- 
tendence of its construction. He was buried beneath an inscrip- 
tion written by his own hand: "Here was buried Thomas Jef- 
ferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, of the Stat- 
ute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the Uni- 
versity of Virginia." 



228 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

THE SAGE OF SITTYTON 

89. The saga of the silent sage of Sittyton has been so stir- 
ringly sung, the secrets of his rent-paying Shorthorns so stren- 
uously studied, and the shrewdness of his Scotch soul so cele- 
brated in its sturdy simplicity, that modern tribute can add 
little to his laurels. Amos Cruickshank vivified the problems 
of the Northern Scot, sought incessantly to energize his native 
granites, and through his single minded idealism resuscitated 
the red, white and roan when its standard was wavering under 
the combined assaults of doddie and whiteface. A half cen- 
tury since, the disciples of Bates and Booth were shirking the 
obvious in the quest of that which was not obvious. The royal 
pedigree and the showyard glamor that bequeathed the latent 
values of each, blinded the masters' followers to the lesson of 
feedpail and paddock, and the whim of landed fanciers too often 
obscured the need of the humble beef artisan. To the north 
of the hills of Lammermoor, where straw supplement replaced 
the luxuriance of the shire pastures, the descendants of Kirk- 
levington, Killerby.and Warlaby fared often ill, though prime 
beef was the need. So with the tenant's necessity ever in his 
eye, the loved "herdsman of Aberdeenshire" fashioned a breed's 
destiny in the plastic heritage of the thick-cutting beeves he 
moulded in the Northland. 

Two brothers husbanded the Aberdonian treasure. Amos 
Cruickshank's face alone reposes on the Club walls, but the 
Shorthorn debt is equal to both. Amos lived with the cattle, 
Anthony builded the business, christened the calves and man- 
aged the sales. The heritage of Amos, a bachelor, died with 
him, Anthony passed on the family virtues to the sequent gen- 
eration. Popular verdict accords Amos the greatest honor, 
though, because his hand selected root and cake and his feet 
tread quest for Moods and beasts to build on, in the herd. 
Amos Cruickshank was born in 1809 and laid the Shorthorn 




AMOS CRUICKSHANK 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 229 

foundations in 1837 with bulls from Barclay of Ury (80). 
For twenty years he scoured all Britain for suitable foundation 
stock, the bulls and bloods of all prominent breeders being given 
their trial. Not until 1860 was the method of Bakewell and 
Bates thought of favorably, and that only when Champion of 
England, of their own breeding, completely outsired rival bulls 
brought in from other herds. The really constructive period 
at Sittyton was thereupon entered, to terminate only with Amos 
Cruickshank's death in 1889, after fifty-two years of active 
industry with his favored tribes. 

The tale of his change of policy is a romance of chance. Be- 
fore 1860 the Cruickshanks wrought with the blood that had 
builded fame for others, the Torr-bred Fairfax Royal, Lincoln- 
shire's great bull Matadore, Towneley's. Plantagenet, Booth's 
Buckingham, Tanqueray's The Baron, and Lord Bathurst, Master 
Butterfly 2d and Lord Raglan. Many there were who insist that 
the latter bull might have been the cornerstone of an even greater 
success than that which arose from his Champion of England, 
had Amos Cruickshank been prepared to prosecute the Bake- 
WELLIAN scheme when Lord Raglan was in the herd, but his Cale- 
donian caution had not yet reached the decisive point for such 
a step. In 1858 the end of a herd bull's breeding cycle forced him 
to seek a good red yearling. An appeal to his friend Wilkinson 
of Lavendar fame, brought only a suggestion that he use the 
eight-year-old roan Lancaster Comet, a bull of great service in 
his Lenton herd. This did not meet Mr. Cruickshank's require- 
ment but since further search was unsuccessful, he ordered the 
bull shipped. The first impression of the bull's "great head and 
horns lowering upon him over the side of the truck" so disap- 
pointed him that Lancaster Comet was relegated to his other farm 
at Clyne and turned into the pasture with a lot of cows that had 
been shy breeders. Late that fall the bull contracted rheumatism 
so seriously that he could profitably only be sent to the butcher. 



230 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Among the dozen calves that he sired was one from a two-year- 
old heifer of moderate merit only, in which Mr. Cruickshank 
discerned the divine spark. So enthusiastic was he in a cautious 
Scot way that his brother Anthony bestowed on the young bull 
the ambitious title of Champion of England. Unfortunately the 
showyard did not agree with this judgment when he was pre- 
sented in yearling form and only a detailed reexamination, point 
by point, determined Mr. Cruickshank to keep him. With the 
advent of his calves, the home appellation was justified, and for 
the remaining days at Sittyton the problem in mating dealt 
entirely with the concentrating of his blood. From the noble 
array of show cows and matrons that were his daughters, Mimulus, 
Morning Star, Violante, Victorine, Village Rose, Village Belle, 
Princess Royal, British Queen, Carmine Rose, Silvery, Surmise, 
and others, and the immortal Grand Monarque, Scotland's 
Pride, Pride of the Isles, Royal Duke of Gloster, Roan Gaunt- 
let, Caesar Augustus, Barmpton and Cumberland, all bulls 
of the Champion of England stock, came the short-legged, broad 
turned, quick maturing, matchlessly meated race that met his 
"rent-paying" ideal. Sittyton became the deep flowing spring of 
Shorthorn blood in the north, and from generation to generation 
its overflow spread from one country to the other in its task of 
regeneration and revivification of the earlier English strains. 

The limits of Sittyton service have not yet been realized. Thirty 
years after the closing of that stern yet kindly eye, the blood it 
so zealously watched over goes on to new achievements, and the 
livelihood and fortune of new generations of breeders are builded 
on the Cruickshank pedestal. The mind that recognized only 
profitable attainment as the fundament of breeding ideals, has 
set up a permanent standard in the land, the soul goes march- 
ing on. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 231 

FOUNDER OF FEDERAL UNITY 

90. Possibly the most brilliant intellect involved in the founda- 
tion and organization of the American government was that of 
Alexander Hamilton. Of historically uncertain parentage, he 
was born on the island of Nevis in the West Indies, January 11, 
1757. His education seems to have been desultory, as at the age 
of thirteen he was forced to enter the office of a West India trades- 
man and merchant. Owing to an early isolation he possessed a 
most precocious independence, and at fourteen years of age wrote 
business letters that were models of tradesmanship. His employer 
soon became in the habit of going away for days at a time and 
leaving this mere child in charge of the counting house. A severe 
hurricane wreaked unprecedented devastation on the islands, and 
young Hamilton prepared so vivid a description of it for the 
press, that numerous friends and relatives combined to send him 
to Boston for an education. Friends here, however, advised him 
to proceed to Elizabethtown, N. J., where he studied energetically 
in preparation for college, and wrote much prose and verse that 
received wide publication. On the completion of his course here 
he went to King's College, New York (now Columbia) where he 
made remarkable progress. 

About this time the difficulties with the mother country were 
coming to a head, and although temperamentally a loyalist, he 
was soon won to the colonies' cause. His articles, although writ- 
ten when only seventeen, possessed such remarkable ability that 
they were popularly attributed to John Jay, or other patriots. 
The discovery of their authorship made him a leader in New York 
politics, and at the outset of the war he was appointed a captain 
of New York artillery. At Long Island and White Plains his 
battery so distinguished themselves by their smartness and disci- 
pline (almost rare qualities in the Continental army) that he was 
appointed staff officer with General Washington. Always pas- 
sionate, he resigned this honor in 1781 as a result of mild 



232 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

reproof given him by the General, and entered the line again. 
At Yorktown he led the storming party on the British redoubts. 

During the winter cessations of hostilities, he studied finance 
and government most vigorously, and offered such a remarkable 
plan of a national bank system that he was made collector of rev- 
enue at New York and later a delegate to the Continental Con- 
gress. He took an important role in the ratification of the peace 
treaty, and in the formation of the Federalist party. So disin- 
tegrated were the finances and policies of the colonies, that at 
the constitutional convention of 1787, he proposed a scheme of 
government, involving office for life and appointees of the presi- 
dent as state governors, so aristocratic in type that it aroused the 
powerful opposition of Benjamin Franklin and others, an^d the 
modern constitution was adopted to defeat it. Personal friends 
have always insisted that this scheme was a clever ruse to bring 
order to the dissenting parties. Following the agreement as to 
a constitution, Mr. Hamilton wrote a series of essays in "The 
Federalist" that contained such brilliant logic as to convert the 
necessary doubters to the constitutional adoption. 

At the time of Washington's inauguration, he was appointed 
secretary of the treasury and established the economic and tariff 
policies that have defined the issues for the two great political 
parties ever since. His report of January 14, 1790, on public 
credit was the first great state paper in American history, and in 
it he reduced the confused finances to order and formulated a plan 
for the assumption of the state debts. During the same period 
he prepared a system of revenue, a scheme for revenue cutters, 
estimates on income and expenditure, temporary regulation of the 
currency, navigation and coast-wise trade laws, plans for the 
postal service, plans for West Point, plans for the management 
of public lands, and settlements for the vast public and private 
claims. Later he reported on the establishment of the mint, the 
system of coinage, the national banks, the protective policy for 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 233 

manufactures, the excise tax system, and finally on the public 
credit and extinction of the national debt. 

Politically he was very active, incurring the enmity of Thomas 
Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe. In 1795 he 
withdrew from the cabinet in order to recuperate his personal 
finances and became New York's leading attorney. On the elec- 
tion of John Adams he clashed repeatedly with the new president, 
but on being created inspector-general of the new army and war 
department, he found so much of organization necessary, that his 
politics for a time were laid aside. However, due to Jefferson 
and Aaron Burr, the Federal party was defeated in New York 
and he was forced to come to the front once more to defend his 
party. A widening breach developed between BuRR and Jeffer- 
son, but the former's intrigues against the latter for president 
were too much for Hamilton's tastes and he was led to support 
Jefferson. The quarrel was made personal by Burr, and in 
July, 1804, he was challenged by the latter to a duel. Hamilton's 
conunon sense prompted him to refuse it, but, as he feared that 
the country was approaching the chaotic condition of France 
under the Revolution, and as he felt his services for order might 
be hampered if he appeared a coward, he accepted. BuRR was 
acquitted of treachery in prematurely firing, although Hamilton's 
friends have never accepted the verdict. The wound was mortal, 
and his tragic fate evoked a universal burst of grief. He became 
the country's first political martyr, and his fame has grown with 
the years. 



234 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

OUR GREATEST CHIEF JUSTICE 

91. The foremost jurist of the evolving young America w^as 
John Marshall. His early manhood caught him in the throes 
of the Revolution and he performed ably as an officer of Virginia 
militia. At Monmouth, Brandywine and Germantown he showed 
his military ability, but at Stony Point and in covering Major 
Lee's retreat at Paulus Hook, he showed his real genius and per- 
severance. His military career was terminated by recruiting duty 
in Virginia in 1780, and while he participated in Baron Steuben's 
operations in Virginia, he never really indulged so actively again. 

His legal career began at the time of his recruiting duty in 
1780. During his leisure hours he attended the course of lec- 
tures given by Chancellor Wythe of William and Mary, and 
late in the season he was admitted to the bar at Williamsburg. 
In 1781 he resigned his commission and entered upon law prac- 
tice in Fauquier county. He attained immediate prominence and 
was elected a member of the house of burgesses. He forthwith 
located in Richmond, and barring the time he was on national 
duty, remained there the rest of his days. 

John Marshall was one of the four lawyers engaged by the 
defendant in the celebrated case of Ware vs. Hilton, tried before 
Justice John Jay, involving the question of indebtedness to 
Britain. His colleagues were Patrick Henry, Alexander Camp- 
bell and James Irvine. He declined attorney-generalship under 
Washinton's first administration, also a foreign mission. On 
the occasion of the French hostility due to the replacement of 
James Monroe as ambassador by Charles C. Pinckney, he was 
appointed a member of the special mission to France to settle 
the difficulty. This proving impossible, he returned to America, 
after backing up Pinckney's immortal "millions for defense, 
but not one cent for tribute." 

He resumed his law practice, declining an appointment as 
supreme justice, but in 1800 he was appointed Secretary of State 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 235 

and in such capacity he settled all of the French difficulties. In 
1801 he was appointed to the supreme court to succeed Chief 
Justice Ellsworth, but at the special request of the president 
administered both duties until the end of the presidential term. 
It was while chief justice that he acquitted Aaron Burr of the 
charge of murder of Alexander Hamilton. 

He compiled the "Life of Washington" in five volumes on the 
request of the family, and afterward published the first volume 
separately as the "History of the American Colonies." (1824). 
The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by New Jersey in 
1802, Harvard in 1806, and Pennsylvania in 1815. He was 
elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at New York 
University with a total of ninety-one votes, the highest anyone 
received, except Washington, Franklin, Lincoln, Webster and 
Grant. He died in Philadelphia, July 6, 1835, aged 79 years, 
8 months and 13 -days. 



236 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

PLANTING SHARON ROSES IN THE BLUEGRASS 

92. Foremost in the first rush of emigration, seeking the grain 
and pasture land of Kentucky and Ohio, in the early years of the 
last century were two brothers, Felix and George Renick, of 
Hardy Co., Virginia. By aid of the compass, they beat their track 
across the mountains, and settled on large tracts of land near the 
present site of Chillicothe, Ohio. They were representative of 
the most influential type of these agricultural pioneers, accustomed 
to breeding cattle for grazing and feeding purposes, and familiar 
with the fattening of steers on "shock" corn in the open fields of 
winter. Their first contribution to the agriculture of the region, 
lay in driving to the seaboard the cattle grown out and fattened 
in this rich prairie region. In 1805, George Renick drove sixty 
eight animals through to Baltimore and on arriving in good con- 
dition very profitably disposed of them. Since this solved the 
marketing problem, the cattle industry advanced with amazing 
strides. In 1817, Felix Renick marketed 100 richly furnished 
Shorthorn steers at Philadelphia, at an average price of $134 per 
head. This experience so elated him that he rapidly became the 
leading feeder of market toppers in Ohio, and with one exception 
was the most extensive breeder and feeder of bullocks of improved 
blood in the United States. In length of time, George Renick 
probably rendered greater service as a feeder, but he at no time 
equalled the extensiveness of Felix's operations. 

The leading breed in the Ohio valley at this time was the Long- 
horn, and considerable rivalry existed between the followers of 
this stock, and the supporters of the Shorthorn. The Ken- 
tuckians largely flocked to the first standard, and the Ohioans 
to the second. Since in the shows the Longhorns usually landed 
on top, the only step consonant with the pride of the Ohio men 
was to secure animals of sufi&cient merit to defeat them. Felix 
Renick became the initiator of a proposition to form a joint 
stock company from among the cattle growers of this district to 




FELIX RENICK 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 237 

purchase English cattle. The details of the organization were 
drawn up November 2, 1833, the backing of two Governors being 
secured. About fifty shareholders were included, all Ohioans 
except the two Cunninghams from Kentucky and Virginia respec- 
tively. Mr. Renick was appointed as agent of this company to 
proceed to England and select the cattle. His outstanding service 
as a bullock producer undoubtedly earned him this right, although 
he was not committed to the purchase of any particular breed of 
animals. As companion members of the buying committee, E. J. 
Harness, and Josiah Renick were designated to act, and Henry 
Clay in sending advice to Gov. Trimble suggested the purchase 
of typical specimens of the "Durham," Devon and Hereford 
breeds. On arrival in England they made a thorough study of 
cattle conditions, visiting the herds of Booth (76), Richard 
Booth, Maynard, Clark, Woodhouse and Bates (74). Their 
familiarity with Shorthorn types and pedigrees so impressed the 
latter breeder that he personally conducted them to many of the 
British herds and to the amazement of his fellow breeders, offered 
six females of his own breeding to the Americans for purchase. 
Investigation of the Hereford and Devon failed to impress them, 
and they ultimately shipped to America seven bulls and twelve 
cows of the Shorthorn breed. In this importation were a total of 
four of the get of Belvedere, and the two roan heifers Rose of 
Sharon, by the latter sire, and Young Mary by Jupiter, foun- 
dresses of the two families that became so important in later 
Shorthorn records. During this visit, Mr. Renick came to lean 
quite strongly on the judgment of Mr. Jonas Whittaker and 
the next two importations totalling forty-two animals were 
selected by this noted Briton. 

The Ohio Importing Co. continued operation until 1837. In 
1836 they conducted a public sale at which twenty-four females 
brought $814 and nineteen bulls $789. At their dispersal sale 
on October 24, 1837, six bulls brought $1,180 each and nine cows 



238 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

exactly Sl,000 apiece. The stockholders were enabled to reap 
considerable profit on their investments, unless they took into 
account the cost to themselves as individual purchasers of the 
animals. Following the breaking up of the Importing Company, 
Mr. Renick approached Bates concerning the purchase of the 
Duke of Northumberland; he attempted one or two general 
importations thereafter but practically speaking they came to 
naught. 

It is difficult to estimate the great value to the Shorthorn breed 
rendered by Mr. Renick and his company. Four of the most im- 
portant families of the mid-century originated in the animals he 
brought across: the Josephines, the Young Marys, the Young 
Phyllis and the Roses of Sharon. These supplied the stimulus 
of fresh blood to the descendants of the older importations, and 
spurred on the breed to new achievements in the showyard and 
market. For more than one hundred years, the Renick family 
was identified with Shorthorn development and improvement, and 
Mr. Felix Renick is to be fully credited' with the impulse for 
good he thus initiated. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 239 

OUR MASTER PHILOSOPHER 

93. The preeminent diplomat of 18th Century America and 
possibly her greatest diplomat of all time if his paucity of mate- 
rials be considered, was Benjamin Franklin. Reared under con- 
ditions of adversity, "the youngest son of a youngest son" for 
five generations, the triumphs of intellect, diplomacy and states- 
manship he acquired were titanic. As a physicist his name comes 
down to posterity almost equivalent to Sir Isaac Newton; as a 
journalist he combined the talents of a Johnson with the energies 
of a Greeley; as a state builder he found no rival in the forma- 
tive republic; and as a diplomat no Hay nor Root could vie with 
his prowess. The polyhedric personality of this Pennsylvania 
printer finds not a rival on the scroll of fame of our nation. 

Benjamin Franklin was born January 17, 1706, of pure Eng- 
lish descent. His father was a soap maker and tallow chandler 
of Boston, and Benjamin was fourteenth of a double brood that 
totalled seventeen. The tenth son of his father, he was early 
destined for the clergy, but financial troubles removed him from 
the Boston grammar school after one year's attendance. Vicissi- 
tude stalked the young boy, but he found employment to his lik- 
ing in the print shop of his brother James. Here he read much 
from the library of Mathew Arnold and from books he pur- 
chased with his frugal savings due to living on a vegetable diet. 
Even during his adolescence he was earnestly striving to perfect 
his style, and when the colonial assembly forbade James to pub- 
lish "The New England Courier" Benjamin succeeded to the 
post, although still a boy in his teens. 

Fraternal friction drove him out within a few months and he 
landed in Philadelphia after some minor adventures. Here at 
eighteen he made the friendship of the Royal Governor, Sir Wm. 
Keith, and secured his backing to send him to England for a 
printing press. On arrival in London the necessary credits were 
lacking, however, an4 he secured employment for a twelvemonth 



240 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

with A. Palmer, a famous London printer, followed by six 
months with Watt. Here he made the acquaintance of many of 
the celebrated authors and broadened markedly his knowledge 
of the world. In 1726 he returned to America, where he ulti- 
mately succeeded in establishing himself as editor of the Phila- 
delphia Gazette. His original style soon built this into a most 
valuable property. Here he organized with a select coterie of 
friends the Junta Club that proved the forerunner of the American 
Philosophical Society, founded in 1743. He was the originator 
of the first subscription library in America, which grew into the 
Philadelphia Public Library and in 1749 established an "academy 
for youth," the mother of the University of Pennsylvania. He 
organized the first fire company in Philadelphia remaining a 
member for fifty years, and he instituted the night watch and 
street lighting. He invented the open Franklin stove, but refused 
the patents tendered, in order that all might benefit in its manu- 
facture. In 1749 he published a paper which established the 
identity of lightning and electricity, and the power of points to 
draw off an electric charge. In 1752 his famous kite experiment 
was performed. For this he received the Copley medal of the 
Royal Society of London in 1753. In this same year Harvard 
and Yale each conferred the A. M. Degree on him, while William 
and Mary di-d the same in 1755. In 1759 the University of St. 
Andrews gave him a J. V. D. and in 1762 Oxford made him a 
D. C. L. He was elected a member of the Royal Societies of Lon- 
don and Edinburgh, of the Royal Academy of Science in Paris, 
of the Imperial Academy of Science, of St. Petersburg, of the 
Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, and of the 
Real Academy of History in Madrid. 

But this represented his success in one line only. His "Poor 
Richard's Almanack" published first in 1732, rose rapidly to a 
circulation of 10,000 copies. In 1733 he took up the mastering 
of French, Spanish and Italian, and ultimately acquired real 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 241 

literary facility in the first two tongues. His pamphlet "Plain 
Truths," published in 1743, was a timely warning against the 
French and Indian War that gave him an immense popularity. 
In 1752 he began a series of contributions to European journals 
that only ceased with his death. 

His career as a statesman began somewhat humbly. In 1736 
he was made clerk of the Pennsylvania assembly, and in 1737 
postmaster of Philadelphia. The next decade and a half were 
occupied with his scientific labors. In 1753 he was made post- 
master general of the American colonies with William Hunter, 
and in 1754 he was deputy from Pennsylvania to the congress at 
Albany of commissioners from the several colonies to devise 
mutual protection against the Indians of the Six Nations. Here 
he projected and formulated "a plan for the union of all the 
colonies under one government, so far as might be necessary for 
defense and for other important general purposes." It was 
adopted by all colonies but Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. 
Between 1757 and 1762 he was agent for the colony against the 
Penn family, "proprietor of the province of Pennsylvania," to 
require the latter family to pay taxes and contribute to the gen- 
eral defense. This cause he won in the English courts. In 1775- 
77 he was made a delegate to Continental Congress, and as such 
devised a plan for the union of the colonies, also a postal system, 
afterward adopted by the United States. He was one of the 
committee of five that framed the Declaration of Independence. 
In 1785 he was made "President" of Pennsylvania and was unani- 
mously elected in 1786 and 1787. He was delegate to the con- 
vention that framed the constitution and was one of the chief 
forces in building up the idea of the federation of states, rather 
than a strongly centralized government. 

His crowning triumphs were diplomatic. In 1764 he was sent 
abroad to secure the repeal of the Stamp Act, and although the 
colonists became indignant when it was put in force and accused 



242 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

him of disloyalty, his success with the British Parliament in nulli- 
fying it in 1766, restored him to popularity. He became repre- 
sentative in London of practically all the colonies and remained 
fighting obnoxious legislation and taxes until 1775, when a signi- 
ficant closing sentence in a letter from his friend Thomas Wal- 
POLE, "I hereby wish you a prosperous voyage and long health," 
sent him hurrying home before British bailiffs could incarcerate 
him. In 1776 he was deputed by Congress head of the committee 
that talked peace terms with Admiral Howe, at the Britisher's 
request. About the close of 1776 he arrived in Paris, at seventy 
years of age, and was acclaimed a popular hero. He secured a 
loan and military assistance from the French government, estab- 
lished a system of commissioned privateers, adjucated prize 
money disputes, quieted mutineers, secured the recognition of the 
United States as an independent nationality, secured the first 
accredited French Minister to America in 1778, and became the 
first American minister plenipotentiary the following year. His 
most delicate bit of work following this was the securing of S6,- 
000,000 loan to finance four more years of war. He repeatedly 
tried to return to America after 1781 but congress refused his 
resignation. With John Adams and John Jay he drew up the pro- 
visional treaty of peace with Great Britain that established Amer- 
ican independence, and then arranged commercial treaties with 
Denmark, Portugal and Morocco. Just before leaving Europe 
he secured the signature of Prussia to a treaty that abolished pri- 
vateering and secured private property from destruction by land 
or sea in time of war. General Washington declared this to 
"mark a new era in international morality." His last efforts in 
diplomacy were directed toward the abolition of the slave trade. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 243 

As a philanthropist, he had no mean record. He left $5,000 
to Boston and Philadelphia respectively for the encouragement of 
young married mechanics, that had accumulated a total of $348,- 
000 in Boston in one hundred years. Another gift of £100 was 
made to provide silver medals to be given annually for meritori- 
ous scholarship in the public schools. 

To such a crowded life no worthy benediction can be written. 
His last words were "A dying man can do nothing easy." The 
thought of service and usefulness occupied his mind to the last 
breath and he died as he had lived, the most versatile American. 



244 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

THE SEERS OF KETTON AND BARMPTON 

94. The first parents of modern Shorthorn breeding, if first 
parents there be, were Charles and Robert Colling, farmers of 
Ketton and Barmpton. Their primal venture in cattle improve- 
ment dates to the visit of Charles Colling to Robert Bakewell 
(78) in 1783. Here considerable time was spent in the study both 
of the methods and the results of this master artisan. Mr. Col- 
ling's efforts convinced him beyond all doubt as to the funda- 
mental soundness of the Dishley principles, but with equal 
soundness he postponed his attempts at application until he be- 
came possessed of the cattle to suit his purposes. His founda- 
tion animal was discovered in 1789, when he obtained from Mr. 
Maynard of Eryholme, that mother of the modern Shorthorn, the 
"beautiful Lady Maynard." 

Both the farms of Ketton and Barmpton were located in the 
Tees valley, approximately three miles from the city of Darling- 
ton and the historic Darlington Marketi. This was the center of 
the old Shorthorn country, the home of the Holderness and 
Teeswater stocks. It was on these foundations that the CoLLiNG 
brothers labored and their most popular subject of discussion 
was the methods and means of eliminating some of the most 
obvious faults of both strains. One of Lady Maynard's daughters 
was mated to her grandson through another daughter, and pro- 
duced the bull calf called Favorite, the cornerstone of the blood 
concentrations that builded so firmly Ketton's success. Favorite 
was mated back to his own dam Phoenix producing Young 
Phoenix. He was then bred to Young Phoenix and produced 
the bull Comet 155, the bovine hero of his time and the first 
cattle beast to sell for S5,000. The incestuous methods that 
produced Comet, the notable price received for him, and the 
fame of such wondrous exhibition cattle as the Durham Ox 
(133) and the White Heifer that Traveled (128) gave Charles 
Colling a notoriety that no breeder in the north of England 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 245 

had hitherto obtained. Another of Charles Colling's famous 
foundation cows, in addition to Lady Maynard, was the original 
Duchess cow, secured on Darlington Market in 1784. This cow 
was the ancestress of the famous Duchess strain that builded so 
well for Bates (74) and his followers. 

The Colling blood origins were not yet complete, however, 
and one more animal that loomed large in later Shorthorn pedi- 
grees must yet be mentioned, the famous bull Hubback. In 1783 
Charles Colling first noticed on Darlington Market some super- 
lative veals and found on inquiry that the calves were sired by a 
bull belonging to Mr. Fawcett of Haughton Hill. Mr. Colling 
went to see him but was not sufficiently impressed to buy. A little 
later his brother Robert displayed his keenness of judgment by 
purchasing him at the price of ten guineas. The bull was scarcely 
large enough to match the mates of such animals as the Durham 
Ox and the White Heifer, and so after one season's use he was 
transferred to Charles Colling. This time Mr. Colling decided 
that the bull must have some value in his mellow furriness and he 
consequently used him for two years. Late in 1787 he was sold 
to Mr. Hubback of North Seton, Northumberland. At ten years 
of age he had as yet been unnamed but usage gradually gave him 
the name of his owner, and when he died at fourteen years, 
Hubback had furnished the blood which Mr. Bates (74) used to 
mate with his Duchess cows. 

Charles Colling's breeding career closed in 1810, at which 
time his inbreeding methods had made approximately three 
fourths of the herd come from the loins either of Favorite or his 
son Comet. The forty-seven head in the sale brought $35,000, 
with the $5,000 Comet at the top. For company's sake, Mr. Col- 
ling had reserved the deep milking, wide spread Magdalena by 
Comet, but so ardent was the demand and so importunate the 
plea-dings of his old friend Jonas Whitaker that even Magdalena 
ultimately left the estate. After the sale, a simple ceremony was 



246 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

ordered, to present Mr. Colling with a piece of silver plate bear- 
ing the signatures of over fifty breeders, "as a token of gratitude 
due from the benefit they have derived from his judgment, and 
also as a testimony of their esteem for him as a man." 

Robert Colling's individual accomplishments were perhaps 
lesser than those of Charles, but it is diflBcult to say just where 
his counsels ended and Charles' began, so intimate was their 
association. Early in his career, he bought Leicester sheep from 
Bakewell (78) an-d developed a system of ram leases that be- 
came a certain source of profit. Three tribes of Shorthorns were 
created at Barmpton, the Wildairs, the Red Roses and the Prin- 
cesses, while the bulk of the foundation bulls of Thomas Booth 
were here produced. The Princess blood was indeed epochal as 
through the Princess-bred Belvedere, Mr. Bates (74) ultimate 
success occurred. Robert Colling's partial dispersion was in 
1818 and completed, in 1820. At the first sale sixty head sold for 
$40,000, while two years later forty-six head brought only $10,- 
000, due to the deep agricultural depression of the time. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 247 

ORGANIZER OF THE AMERICAN SHORTHORN 
ASSOCIATION 

95. The leading Shorthorn spirit in Illinois during the years 
just following the Civil War was the Hon. J. Henry Pickrell, 
first president of the American Shorthorn Breeders' Association 
and later its secretary. Mr. Pickrell descended from Kentucky 
and Virginia ancestors, his father settling in Sangamon Co., Illi- 
nois, in 1828. He was born March 20, 1834, and was early 
identified with Shorthorn breeding. In 1859 he was made presi- 
dent of the Macon County Fair in Illinois, and as its representative 
attended the Bourbon County (Ky.) Fair and the Kentucky State 
Fair. 

His prominence in the Shorthorn trade dates from 1865, when 
he brought to his farm at Harristown the yearling bull Sweep- 
stakes 6320, of Rose of Sharon blood purchased from George 
M. Bradford of Kentucky. Sweepstakes was sired by Mr. Ren- 
ICk's famous Airdrie, and therefore carried a double line of 
Woodburn blood (82). Sweepstakes won first prize as a two- 
year-old at the Illinois State Fair of 1866, and was made champion 
over Mr. Duncan's hitherto invincible Minister. In 1868 Mr. 
Pickrell imported from Kentucky the Phyllis cow Kate Lewis, 
of B. F. Van Meter's (98) breeding and won championship with 
her at the Illinois State Fair of 1868. Sweepstakes was again 
champion at this fair, and won the $200 prize offered for a bull 
with five of his get. He was ultimately sold to Ohio, and Mr. 
Pickrell was forced to submit to bulls, other than his own, win- 
ning in the showring. He had such an insatiable thirst for show- 
yard successes, however, that after considerable search he secured 
the Cochrane-bred Baron Booth of Lancaster, one of the most 
noted bulls ever on the great show circuits of America. In the 
hands of Mr. Pickrell's herdsman, David Grant, Baron Booth 
developed to a full maturity of 2,600 pounds. From his service 



248 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

was secured the bull Baron Lewis, that defeated his sire for cham- 
pionship at the Indiana State Fair an4 brought a price of $3,000 
in the sale ring. 

Mr. PiCKRELL in 1877 entered partnership with the famous 
Missouri breeder, J. H. Kissinger, half the herd being maintained 
at Clarksville, Mo., and the other at Harristown, 111. The suc- 
cess of the combination was instantaneous, and the two were so 
important in the early show rings that in the twelve years from 
1867 to 1879, their prizes aggregated above $40,000. Their rela- 
tions were broken in 1879. 

In the early 80's Mr. Pickrell formed a partnership with 
Thomas & Smith of Kentucky, and in 1883, the firm sold seventy- 
two head at an average of $420. Throughout Mr. Pickrell's 
entire career, he was exceptionally successful with his sale oflFer- 
ings, and the bulk of his averages ran between $400 an4 $600. 
Perhaps his greatest service to the breed lay in his active partici- 
pation in the organization of the American Shorthorn Breeders' 
Association and the acquisition of the Allen, Kentucky and Ohio 
registration records to form the "American Shorthorn Breeders' 
Herd Book." Mr. Pickrell was the first president and was later 
chosen secretary to succeed Colonel Muir, a position he held 
until his death in 1901. 

Outside of his livestock afiSliations, Mr. Pickrell developed 
numerous agricultural interests that gave him a wealth of ma- 
terial for journalistic purposes. The columns of all agricultural 
papers were open to his contributions, but for the last thirty 
years of his life he was a salaried member of the staff of the 
Country Gentleman, acting specifically as its Illinois Livestock 
Reporter. Mr. Pickrell's style was unadorned, but his ideas 
were most highly practical, hence his influence was far-reaching. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 249 

A RECORDER OF SHORTHORN RELATIONSHIPS 

96. One of the most difi&cult tasks in connection with the found- 
ing of pure breeds has been the collection of the material neces- 
sary to establish the herd and record books. In the more widely 
distributed breeds the situation has been particularly appalling, 
never more so than in 1848 when Louis F. Allen of New York 
brought out his first volume of Shorthorn records. Rail trans- 
portation was still in its infancy, an<i the seed stock that had 
crossed from Britain in the preceding quarter century was so 
widely dispersed that there was no hope of emulating the worthy 
Coates and making pilgrimage by sturdy nag from manor to 
farm and village to hamlet. Hence the first volume was incom- 
plete, being based almost solely on the animals of New England, 
New York and Pennsylvania with which Mr. Allen was person- 
ally familiar. As an additional discouragement to early pro- 
motion, it left the printer at almost the low mark of the business 
depression of the 40's. With the change of ti4e in the early 50's, 
breeders began to take more interest in the records of their animals 
and Mr, Allen was more hopeful when he undertook the produc- 
tion of the second volume. 

Of the Shorthorn lovers of the period, Mr. Allen was perhaps 
best fitted for this task. He had visited several of the important 
breeders of the red, white and roan in rural England, and was 
personally intimate with many of the New England and Middle 
State importers. Near Black Rock, New York, he had maintained 
a small herd of the breed and was instinctively a student of pedi- 
grees an4 pedigree methods. 

Hence when he resumed his efiforts in 1851, he found more 
encouragement, particularly from the coterie of promoters and 
breeders in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. In Kentucky a 
committee of breeders had been appointed to collect the data on 
the Shorthorns of their state, and when the report was ready to 
be published, the records were turned over to Mr. Allen for his 



250 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

secon4 volume. In the autumn of 1855 the book appeared with 
approximately 3,000 pedigrees. In many cases the information 
was fragmentary and more than once errors and even forgeries 
were discovered. But the proper foundation had been laid and 
Mr. Allen was recognized throughout the Shorthorn fraternity 
as the authorized custodian of the records. 

The growth of the breed interests was most pronounced in the 
Mississippi valley in the 70's, and gradually the geographic limits 
led to dissensions among the breeders. The western and southern 
men soon felt that the location of pedigree autocracy in New York 
gave numerous possibilities of minority control, and in the early 
70's two new registers appeared, the American Shorthorn Record 
in Kentucky and the Ohio Shorthorn Record in that state. The 
only solution guaranteeing a strong and permanent future was the 
unification of the three interests, so in the autumn of 1882 the first 
step was taken through the acquirement of Mr. Allen's records 
for $25,000, by the newly organized American Shorthorn 
Breeders' Association. Immediately thereafter the other two 
registers were purchased and since 1883 there has been but one 
book. Headquarters of the records were removed to Chicago, 
and have remained either there or at Springfield ever since. 

One very great service which Mr. Allen rendered was in the 
publication of his volume on "American Cattle." This first 
appeared in 1868, and summarized the knowledge at that time 
available on the improved cattle in America, as well as giving 
considerable of the early lore on feeding and breeding. His 
death, less than a decade after relinquishing his position of author- 
ity in the breed, removed one of the most notable servants of 
improved stock of the early days. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 251 

ONE OF GOD'S GENTLEMEN 

97. Among the busy men of industry who grounded their suc- 
cesses in the soil was Emery Cobb, one of the formative spirits of 
the Western Union Telegraph Co. Mr. Cobb was born in Dryden, 
N. Y., August 20, 1831. At eleven years of age his father died, 
but under his maternal grandfather, Lemi Bradley, he secured 
the best of common school educations and was financed for a 
course in telegraphy at Ithaca, N. Y. After a few assignments, 
in which he was exceptionally successful, he was made manager 
of his company, the old Erie & Western. In 1852 he proceeded 
by water from Cleveland to Chicago and was one of the few 
survivors to float ashore when the boat burned. This laid the 
foundation for a delicacy under indoor life that ultimately forced 
his retirement. In 1853 under Mr. Cobb's control five separate 
telegraph companies were merged under his management, and in 
1856 these were absorbed by the Western Union, Mr. Cobb being 
made western superintendent at Chicago. He established the 
transmittal of money by telegraph and during the Civil War was 
in charge of the transmission of the War Department orders and 
reports that were sent by wire. He was entrusted with the service 
code, and was a valued friend and aide to President Lincoln. 
Failing health forced him to seek release from his arduous duties 
after the Civil War, but so desirous was the company of retaining 
his services that they sent him abroad for a year in the hope of 
restoring him. The attempt was unsuccessful, however, and he 
retired to his farm in Kankakee, purchased in 1861. 

Here his improvement was gradual. He was made president 
of the First National Bank, and in 1867, Governor Oglesby ap- 
pointed him a member of the Board of Trustees of the University 
of Illinois. In 1873, the board was reduced from a membership 
of twenty-eight to nine, and Mr. Cobb was made chairman of the 
finance committee, a position held twenty-six years. 



252 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Shorthorns were first recorded by him in 1870. He took a 
prominent part in the establishment of the American Shorthorn 
Breeders' Association, and was its second president, serving from 
1884 to 1900. He survived the floods of Booth, Bates and 
Scotch popularity by making his tenet the best animal regard- 
less of the fashionableness of its bloodlines. 

Mr. Cobb was very successful financially, a part of his wealth 
arising from the gradual incorporation of his farm into the limits 
of Kankakee. He died at the age of seventy-nine, on April 14, 
1910. Perhaps his most outstanding trait was his courtliness of 
manner and his gentlemanly character. Mr. Cobb was a man of 
high spiritual nature respected and beloved by all who knew him, 
and he rightly earned the title accorded him by a Kankakee 
friend, in a published appreciation, "one of God's Gentlemen." 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 253 

A SHORTHORN SOLON 

98. The romance of the early Kentuckians and Ohioans who 
courageously risked their lives and fortunes to build up the 
blooded cattle industry of America can never be adequately told. 
The names of Renick (92) and Van Meter, Warfield and 
Alexander (82), Cunningham and Combs, are now memories; 
the strains they fought so earnestly to perpetuate are now over- 
shadowed by the soggy rent-payers from the Northland, and the 
manors that cradled their triumphs are now given over to the 
most diversified of agricultural production. 

Almost alone of those mighty intellects survives Mr. Benjamin 
F. Van Meter, now of Lexington, who during his active years 
lived on the parental estate in Clark Co., about four miles from 
the town of Winchester. Mr. Van Meter was born January 30, 
1834, the fifth son in a family of fifteen. It was in this year that 
Felix Renick (92) crossed the waters to import the first pedi- 
greed cattle to come west of the Allegheny mountains. Both 
Isaac Van Meter and Capt. Isaac Cunningham, father and 
grandfather of Ben Van Meter, were heavy stockholders in this 
venture. Born thus into an atmosphere of pedigreed stock, it was 
not surprising that in 1853 he chose to go to England with his 
brother Solomon and Charles T. Garrard rather than complete 
his college course. On this trip he first made the acquaintance 
of Robert A. Alexander (82) and was fortunate to have the 
opportunity of returning aboard ship as sole Kentuckian in the 
company of this early master. 

The friendship here commenced, ripened into a permanent 
asset for Mr. Van Meter. Due to the sharp practice of a neigh- 
bor, Squire Duncan, he was cheated out of the service of the 
bull Lord John, of Woodburn breeding, for which he had bartered. 
So firm was Mr. Alexander's interest, however, that he permitted 
the young Van Meter to use for four months, the undefeated 
Second Duke of Airdrie, then billed for shipment to Scotland. 



254 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

In 1854 his father Isaac Van Meter died, and Ben Van Meter 
became sole executor of the estate, the herd at that time totaling 
about one hundred head of cattle. His share, consisting of eight 
choice animals, constituted the foundation from which he bred, 
with only slight additions from the outside, for a period of fifty 
years. Among the females added were the heifers. Gem the 
Second, out of Imported Gem by Broker, and Red Rose the Sec- 
ond, foundress of Mr. Van Meter's Red Roses. The best cow 
bred in the Van Meter herd was Red Rose the Eighth, winner at 
the best Kentucky fairs and finally first in Winchester over Abram 
Renick's two best Roses of Sharon, William Warfield's two 
best Loudon Duchesses, Edwin Bedford's two best Loudon 
Duchesses, and a half dozen recently imported cows shown by 
the Clark County Importing Co. She was never defeated but 
once, and then by her full sister, Red Rose Eleventh bred by Mr. 
Van Meter. When finally sold to B. B. Groom, she won first 
prize at the Philadelphia Centennial Cattle Show. A public sale 
about this time of thirty-nine animals brought a total of S55,000 
to Mr. Van Meter, a Rose of Sharon of his own breeding bring- 
ing $3,000, and a yearling Rose of Sharon by Fourth Duke of 
Geneva bringing $5,550. His most famous family in the light of 
the years was the Young Mary line, and it is with the Young Marys 
that Shorthorn breeders associate the Van Meter name. 

Mr. Van Meter was an intimate friend and close associate 
of Abram Renick, Sr., in spite of the latter's ten years' advan- 
tage in experience. 

The Van Meters were descended from one of the early Dutch 
settlers in New Amsterdam, his ancestor, Jans Jyspertsen van 
Meterene, crossing from Bommell, South Holland, in 1663. 
The family lived in New York and later in what is now West 
Virginia, and from earliest times was devoted to agricultural 
pursuits. Mr. Van Meter was the first vice president of the 
American Shorthorn Breeders' Association and played an influen- 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 255 

tial role in its foundation. Since his retirement from active 
breeding, he has taken a great interest in the problems of 
improvement of Kentucky stock, and with true Bates loyalty 
has fought hard for the dual purpose kind. He has published 
several articles on the methods of producing suitable farm ani- 
mals from the grade Jersey and Holstein foundations, of his 
native state, crossed later with pure Shorthorn bulls. His mem- 
ories of the golden days of Bates' prosperity constitute an 
exceptional storehouse for the pedigree student of today. 



256 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A BUILDER OF CORNBELT AGRICULTURE 

99. The beginnings of Illinois cattle breeding were laid in 
the days when early Kentuckians crossed over the Ohio to con- 
quer the fertile prairies of Illinois. Typical of this pioneer type 
both as to influence for the future on the state's farm practice 
and as to the heritage in worthy descendants who carried for- 
ward the pioneer ideal was Captain James Nicholas Brown 
of Grove Park in Sangamon County. 

Captain Brown was born October 3, 1806, in Fayette Co., 
Kentucky, amid the pastoral greens of fields early famous for 
their contribution to American livestock. He was Captain of 
militia in his native state but early acquired the taste for Short- 
horn cattle under the inspiration of his maternal uncles, of the 
famous Kentucky Warfield family. In 1834 with his father 
he drove his herd from Kentucky to Illinois. So successful was 
he on his better animals, even prior to this date, that he had 
received numerous prizes, treasured heirlooms in the family to 
the present time. Captain Brown was the first apostle of the 
truth that the most profit in a permanent agriculture comes 
from marketing good grass and good corn in the form of good 
cattle. He was essentially a farmer and gradually extended 
his interests to Berkshire swine and Southdown sheep. He was 
a member of the State Legislatures of 1840, 1842, 1846 and 
1853, a colleague and friend of Abraham Lincoln. From this 
position he lent notable assistance in organizing the Illinois 
State Agricultural Society, and was elected its first president. 
So interested was he in the welfare of agriculture, that in present- 
ing the case for state appropriations for this purpose before the 
legislature, he said: "So you will know I stand for this heart and 
soul, I will duplicate dollar for dollar any appropriation you 
may make." His earnestness carried the day, and the initial 
appropriation of $3,000 was matched by Capt. Brown. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 257 

In the early 50's he made trips both to Ohio and Kentucky, 
bringing back a number of valuable Shorthorns. He partici- 
pated in organizing the Illinois Importing Association and 
together with Dr. John of Decatur, and Henry Jacoby of 
Springfield went abroad in 1857. A valuable consignment of 
cattle, horses, swine and sheep was obtained, the first direct 
importation into Illinois. At the sale of this stock held at 
Springfield, he purchased imp. Rachel 2nd at the then long 
price of $3,025. The venture was a great success, twenty-seven 
head bringing an average price of $1,165. 

Previous to this time Captain Brown had initiated his Illinois 
career as a showman. At the first exhibition of the State Board 
of Agriculture in 1853 he took six prizes. Thenceforward his 
success in the showring was cumulative, and the ensuing battles 
at the Illinois State Fair brought him victory during the eleven 
successive years for the grand herd prize. Capt. Brown was 
more than a breeder. In 1856 Grove Park received the prize 
of the Illinois Board of Agriculture for the best arranged an-d 
most economically conducted grazing farm in the state. He 
was a student of rural beauty, and his plantations of black 
locusts, and his field and drive lines of black walnut, elicited 
the admiration of all visitors. 

He was a close personal friend of Abraham Lincoln and at 
the funeral of the lamented statesman in Springfield, he had 
the honor of being one of the pallbearers. Capt. Brown's por- 
trait hangs on the walls of the State Capitol at Springfield and 
also in the Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois. During 
the later years of his life Capt. Brown's three sons, William, 
Charles and Benjamin, participated in the management of the 
farm, enabling the continuation of the breeding and feeding 
operations till the present. Capt. Brown's death occurred in 
1869, and his body lies at rest under the bluegrass he so thor- 
oughly builded on. 



258 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

FOUNDER OF THE EXPORT CATTLE TRADE 

100. John D. Gillett was the -dean of the fat stock men of 
the 60's, 70's and 80's and was the originator of and sponsor 
for the export bullock trade to Great Britain. He was born 
at New Haven, Conn., April 28, 1819, of French Huguenot 
descent. His ancestor, Jonathan Gillett, emigrated in 1630 
to Dorchester, Mass., in one of Winthrop's companies. On 
being made a free man he proved his mettle by volunteering 
to fight the Pequot Indians at New London, and was one of 
sixteen to return from that bloody encounter. For this service 
he received a grant of land, the Wetang Meadows. The Gilletts 
were minute men and volunteers in the Colonial Army, fighting 
at Lexington and many other of the northern engagements. The 
Connecticut book of the Revolutionary War from the Adjutant 
General's office records 49 Gilletts in the commands of 
Colonel Huntington and General Wooster, among them 
John Gillett's grandfather, Benoni. His father Eliphaz was 
captain and sole owner of the brig "John" engaged in the West 
Indies and coastwise trade. 

When he was three years old his father died, but his mother 
was able to send him to the Lancastrian school in New Haven. 
In his seventeenth year he sailed in the ship "Thomas" to 
Georgia, where he clerked in his uncle's store, but in 1838 
returned to New Haven where he attended the Pearl Academy 
for three months. He then decided to cast his fortune in the 
west, and in 42 days made the journey from New Haven to 
Illinois, going via the Ohio and Mississippi from Pittsburg to 
St. Louis and thence by stage to Springfield, 111. The last 
twenty miles to Bald Knob, the home of another uncle, were 
made on foot, and he made a humble start at S8 a month as a 
farm hand for his uncle. With the first $50 saved he entered 
40 acres of land, as at that time most of the land in Logan 
county was for sale at government prices, prairie land not being 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 259 

considered as desirable as timber land. Many believed that it 
would be a century before the prairie would be settled, due to 
the exposure to coW bleak winds and the difficulty of obtaining 
fuel. By 1842 as a result of saving all the money he could and 
investing it in land he was owner of 240 acres. During this 
year he married and began running cattle on the open grass of 
Sangamon and Logan counties. This stock was secured from 
other settlers and was descended from the best blood of the 
Ohio and Kentucky Shorthorns. Mr. Gillett determined to 
cultivate to corn all of the lan4 he could secure. Although 
corn sold at only 6 to 8 cents a bushel, it was quite profitable 
when put through cattle. He fenced his pastures, selected his 
best heifers, and in 1850 bought his first purebred bull, a Short- 
horn, secured to effect his feeder ideal, from the herd of Mr. 
Thomas Skinner. From time to time he bought more good 
bulls of Shorthorn blood, but always paid more attention to 
individual merit than pedigree. He was not a breeder as he 
always purchased his own sires, but he stayed neither hand nor 
pocketbook when he found animals that met his concept. He 
omitted no opportunity to purchase all the cattle his neighbors 
had to sell and his wonderful ability to judge the quality and 
weights of cattle on the hoof often netted him $500 profit on a 
single day's work. 

By 1852 Mr. Gillett had the largest farm and the greatest 
number of cattle, horses and hogs, of any farmer in Logan Co. 
He employed a number of men to attend to the manual labor 
of feeding and herding the cattle, and several tenants to farm 
the land and raise his corn at 10 to 15 cents a bushel, thereby 
conducting his farming and stock feeding operations on the 
largest possible scale. He conceived the purpose of supplying 
the Chicago market with a line of grade steers that would 
excel anything received there, and there is little question but 
what he accomplished his purpose. At the end of his first 



260 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

quarter century of farming he possessed 12,000 acres of land 
and a herd of 3,000 high grade Shorthorn cattle from which 
he annually marketed 300 steers of his own raising, weighing 
1800 to 2400 pounds. At his death in 1888 he possessed 18,000 
acres, with his innate spirit of expansion still unsatisfied. On 
his 4eath bed one of his friends who had called to express his 
farewell grief was astonished to have Mr. Gillett state in 
regretful tones that he had made a big mistake in his life. The 
friend responded that he could not see how a man whose years 
had been packed with constructive endeavor, such as Mr. Gil- 
Lett's, could have had time to make a mistake. But the old 
gentleman insisted, and thinking to learn something, perhaps 
of a gossipy nature, his friend pressed him for an explanation. 
The old gentleman hesitated, then in a sudden burst of confi- 
dence said, "I should have bought more land." 

In 1872 he sent 86 head of three-year-olds to Albany, averag- 
ing there 1891 pounds per head, and the next year 90 head that 
averaged 1780 pounds. In December, 1873, he had 75 three- 
year-olds on the Buffalo market that averaged above a ton, their 
home weight being 2250 pounds. During that year he marketed 
at Chicago, Buffalo, Albany and New York, 800 three-year-olds 
averaging 1531 pounds. 

The early American Fat Stock Shows saw his keenest triumphs. 
At the very first show in 1878, his Shorthorn steer, John Sher- 
man, weighing approximately 2200 pounds at three years seven 
months, won the championship. Again in 1880, he was promi- 
nent as an exhibitor, but since his cattle came direct from the 
pastures, the necessary finish for ultimate triumph was lacking. 
This so stirred his pride that in 1881 he came back with the 
celebrated red bullock McMullen at 2100 pounds and defeated 
Miller's grade Hereford steer, Conqueror, for the championship. 
In 1882 McMullen again won for him, after making a total gain 
for the year of 470 pounds. He was probably the finest type 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 261 

of the old-fashioned steer ever exhibited, with table back and 
massive frame. Perhaps the greatest service to modern Ameri- 
can steer showing was the strong stand he took favoring the 
elimination of three and four-year-old steers from the shows. 
In fact by 1885, Mr. Gillett was marketing all of his cattle 
by the time they had reached thirty months of age. His example 
elicited a number of noteworthy pupils and Mr. D. M. Moninger 
of Iowa, J. G. Imboden of Illinois, and a host of others carried 
forward the standard and precedents he had set. The relief of 
a bullock's head standing out from the keystone of the arch at 
the main entrance to the stock yards at Chicago, is a carving 
from a clay model of John Sherman, his first champion, named 
for the founder of the yards. 

In September, 1876, he made his first shipment of live cattle 
to England, one hundred head averaging 2100 pounds. Between 
1876 and 1880 he shipped 1,300 steers to the Liverpool and 
London markets. In 1879 one of his shipments destined for 
Britain was <liverted at New York by William Ottman & Co. 
of the Fulton Market, at a then sensational cost of $6 per cwt. 
These were exhibited at the Messrs. Ottman's stalls in the great 
Durham Premium Christmas Cattle and Sheep Exhibit at the 
Madison Square Gardens and won extreme praise. In 1881 he 
shipped to Liverpool by the steamer "Thanemore" 122 bullocks 
averaging 1963 pounds, that brought him a $200 average price 
or a total of $24,400, about $5,000 more profit than Mr. Gillett 
figured he could have made if he had disposed of them in Amer- 
ica. The mammoth McMullen and thirty other show steers 
featured his 1882 shipment, which consisted of 167 animals. 

His methods of outdoor feeding of steers, and of keeping his 
cows and calves on bluegrass pasture without shelter, being fed 
only in the severest weather, produced a very hardy strain of 
cattle. He believed that perfect freedom and exercise in the 
open air were necessary to produce a full and healthy develop- 



262 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

ment and that cattle are better off without shelter and less liable 
to disease. He demonstrated that Shorthorn cattle were not 
too tender for successful raising and feeding anywhere in the 
country, as the unrestricted sweep of the winter winds of the 
Illinois prairie severely test the endurance of animals exposed 
to the weather; also that cattle might be raised to the highest 
degree of excellence without an expensive outlay for buildings, 
and that corn and bluegrass would produce the finest quality 
of meat. The reputation of his cattle gained at the Fat Stock 
Shows in Chicago for their surpassing physical development 
and hardiness created a demand from the western ranchmen, 
who bought thereafter for breeding purposes the greater part 
of his annual crop of calves. In June, 1879, Robert Foote of 
Wyoming took out 41 heifers and a bull of Mr. Gillett's breed- 
ing, while Col. Crouch of Texas took 75 bulls at $100 a head. 
In 1882 a trainload of Shorthorns delivered at Cheyenne 
featured 23 bulls of Mr. Gillett's breeding which readily out- 
sold all other consignments in the train. 

In later years Mr. Gillett's agricultural interests were 
accompanied by political and banking interests. As early as 
1850 he became interested in founding and laying out towns, 
Nauvoo in that year, and Lincoln, 111., ten years later. He 
founded the first National Bank of Logan Co., and was its presi- 
dent until his death. All business and commerce interested him 
and he loved to assist the county merchants with loans. Many 
a Logan Co. grocer, butcher or drygoods vendor received invalu- 
able financial help from the old gentleman, and when his sturdy 
pioneer life finally closed, August 25, 1888, he gravely told his 
surviving family, a widow, seven daughters and one son, that 
his prairie days held no regrets, "every minute I have enjoyed." 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 263 

A PRAIRIE PIONEER 

101. The founder of the Funk family, pioneer agriculturists 
of Illinois, was Isaac Funk, He was born in Clark Co., Ken- 
tucky, November 17, 1797, and received most meager educa- 
tional advantages. In 1823 he migrated to McLean Co., Illinois, 
where he settled on the acreage that ultimately became Funk's 
Grove. Here, without capital, but by dint of much industry 
and perseverance, he laid the foundation of the biggest fortune 
based solely on agriculture, that has been developed in Ameri- 
can history. After forty-two years of labor, his assets were 
admittedly above $2,000,000, although he dealt only in live- 
stock and farm products. 

Mr. Funk was elected to the state legislature in 1810, where 
he served one term, and was sent to the 23rd and 24th sessions 
as a member of the senate. He was originally a Whig, but 
previous to the Civil War became a Republican, and gave loyal 
and efficient service during the difficult period that followed. 
He played a very important role in the retention of Illinois 
to the cause of the Union, resisting every effort of the slave 
holders of the southern section to secure its secession. In 
February, 1863, he delivered, in the language of the prairie 
pioneer, what has been termed the "most illiterate and most 
intelligent" address the state senate has ever heard, against the 
activities of the anti-war factionists, for which he received both 
state and national commendation. His death occurred January 
29, 1865. 



264 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A FINANCIAL FRIEND OF THE SHOWYARD 

102. The destinies of improved Illinois agriculture were 
directed from the late 50's until almost the beginning of this 
century, by as strong a triumvirate of farmers as has been 
known in any state in America. These men were Colonel 
James W. Judy (104), Hon. Lafayette Funk (103) and Mr. 
John W. Bunn. Of the three men, Mr. Funk contributed some- 
thing of a general farming experience, CoL. Judy something of 
the interests of purebred livestock, and John W. Bunn some- 
thing of the business and clerical instincts, necessary for the 
strong organization and functioning of a living pregnant insti- 
tution. 

Mr. Bunn was born in Hunterton Co., New Jersey, June 30, 
1831. At nine years of age he was brought to Springfield, 
Illinois, by his parents, who emigrated across the waters and 
plains of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. His education was 
received in the public schools of Illinois, but he early mani- 
fested an interest in business affairs and business methods, and 
like many other young men of the growing country, partici- 
pated in local politics. In 1859 he was appointed treasurer 
of the State Board of Agriculture, a position he held unremit- 
tingly for thirty-nine years. He had acquired previous to this 
time, title to some excellent farming land in the vicinity of 
Springfield, but in March, 1867, he was appointed treasurer 
of the University of Illinois at Champaign. This effectively 
overruled such desires as he may have had to have pursued 
farm operations personally, and during the next three decades, 
he devoted all of his energy to public affairs. 

In 1878 the initial American Fat Stock Show was held under 
the auspices of the Illinois State Board of Agriculture in the 
old Exposition building on the Lake Front, where the Art Insti- 
tute now stands, and Mr. Bunn acted as treasurer for a number 
of years. Mr. Bunn won a home in the hearts of the exhibitors 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 265 

since he always paid the premiums regardless of the financial 
outcome of the show. At the close of the fiscal year 1892-1893, 
he found himself in slightly failing health, and resigned his 
position with the University. Five years later it became neces- 
sary for him to relinquish his activities with the Board of Agri- 
culture, and on June 7, 1920 the last of the trinity who had 
wielded such an enormous power in agricultural organizations 
passed beyond. 

Mr. Bunn was a prominent man in Illinois business circles. 
He was president of the Illinois Watch Co., at Springfield, and 
for many years head of a wholesale grocery concern in that 
place. For nearly a decade he was treasurer of the Selz-Schwab 
Shoe Co. of Chicago. 

The eflfective functioning of the State Board of Agriculture, 
the early promotion of the rural interests at the University of 
Illinois, the upbuilding of the State Fair, the organization of 
the Farmer's Institute System, the support and development of 
the Stallion Registry office, the seed, feed and grain inspection 
functions, and the development of needed agricultural legisla- 
tion can all be credited to the activities of these three men. In 
the light of history, it is hardly possible to say which of the 
three did the most. Mr. Bunn's duties brought him into contact 
with the public rather less frequently than the other two men, 
and his genius was directed ordinarily to things that are unseen, 
the silent and efficient functioning of the machine. The debt 
of the State of Illinois cannot be measured in monetary terms 
to men such as these, the new generation is reared accustomed 
to the innovations and blessings they have accomplished. In 
the hearts of the men who have struggled beside them, however, 
there will live forever a monument and testimonial to their 
spirits and the things they have achieved. 



266 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A STAUNCH SUPPORTER OF THE OLD-TIME CATTLE 

SHOWS 

103. The second generation of the Funk family so important 
in the agricultural and livestock development of Hlinois, were 
the two brothers, Lafayette and Jacob Funk. By curious inci- 
dent, they died within an hour of each other, as did their father 
and mother, at their home. Funk's Grove, in McLain Co., Hlinois. 
Lafayette Funk was born in 1834, in the log cabin which his 
father, Issac Funk (101) had timbered ten years previous, by 
the side of a huge glacially-deposited granite boulder. The 
public activities of Lafayette Funk were extremely conspicu- 
ous for many years. He was active in the Illinois legislature, 
and was made a member of the upper house when Joseph W. 
Fifer was elected governor. Mr. Funk rendered valuable serv- 
ice to the agricultural interests of Illinois as president of the 
State Board of Agriculture, but it was in his capacity as man- 
ager of cattle at the old Fat Stock Show held in the Lake Front 
pavilion in Chicago during the 80's that he achieved his highest 
success. He was chairman of the Illinois exhibit at the Colum- 
bian Exposition, and a director of the Union Stock Yard Co., 
operating the Chicago livestock market. 

Lafayette Funk was a veritable apostle of agriculture. In 
the early days he drove his cattle from the pastures of central 
Illinois to Chicago, and when the Chicago markets failed him, 
he drove on through to Buffalo, or to Milwaukee. Where the old 
Montgomery Ward building now stands, once stood a grove 
of trees, under which he frequently paused to rest his cattle, 
and to water them from the Chicago river. Mr. Funk was as 
much a pioneer in breeding and production as he was in cattle 
feeding. In the later years of the last century he paid close 
attention to the improvement of Leaming and Reid Yellow Dent 
corn, participating actively in the movement that developed seed 
corn shows, and that resulted in the state wide test of seed before 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 267 

planting. Mr. ^UNK was progressive even after attaining his 
allotted three score years and ten, and actively participated in 
the management of his farm, flocks and herds. On his broad 
acres he established a twentieth century standard of agricul- 
ture that was widely recognized and popularly emulated. He 
was an early promoter of alfalfa growing, and Funk's Grove 
was the mecca of those who sought a leaf from Mr. Funk's 
extensive experience. He early extended his operations to the 
grassy regions west of the Missouri and there bred and nurtured 
cattle under more favorable and economical conditions, to be 
finished in his Hlinois feed lots. 

Mr. Funk gave freely to the public of his personal energy 
and experience, uninspired by the instincts that animated the 
ordinary politician. His every act was constructive. As presi- 
dent of the State Fair, he sought the most favorable opportunity 
for each exhibitor and insisted on the highest possible degree 
of efficiency in the management of that institution. He reposes 
in the timber land where his boyhood days were spent, adjacent 
to the scene of nearly a century of useful activity. His death 
occurred September 6, 1919. 



268 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

THE GREATEST LIVESTOCK AUCTIONEER OF THE 
CLOSING CENTURY 

104. On the anniversary of the 65th State Fair at Springfield, 
Illinois, there occurred the death of a man whose pioneer work 
laid its foundations. CoL. James W. Judy was America's oldest 
livestock auctioneer, a commanding figure in the pedigree stock 
circles for many years. During the goWen days of the Short- 
horn trade he was a popular personality, performing at most 
of the great auctions. 

He was born in a red, white and roan environment amid the 
bluegrass pastures of Kentucky, May 8, 1822. He settled in 
Illinois as a young man, but had conducted numerous auctions 
of miscellaneous farm property before leaving Kentucky. He 
acquired a large farm near Tallula, 111., not far from the home 
of the well known Shorthorn breeder, J. H, Spears. Col. Judy 
was a home loving man and a gentleman of the old school, his 
heart was in his acres, and his highest ideal to make them as pro- 
ductive and fruitful as they were charming in topography and 
surroundings. 

Col. Judy reached the zenith of his career in the 70's, when 
he made dozens of historical sales both in the Mississippi valley 
and farther east. His first Shorthorn sale was cried at Jack- 
sonville, 111., in August, 1856, for Judge Steven Dunlap, and 
his career continued until he was nearly eighty years of age. 

Among the heroes of the Lake Front show. Col. Judy was an 
influential figure, contributing largely to the foundation, organ- 
ization and, operation of the institution. Possessed of the quali- 
ties of the sage he early foresaw the movement tending to 
shorten the feeding life of the steer and was a leading pro- 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 269 

ponent of the moves that ultimately removed the bulky four 
and three-year-olds from the competitions. 

Col. Judy knew all of the leading breeders and his informa- 
tion on bloodlines and pedigrees was encyclopedic in range and 
accuracy. His simplicity, honesty, modesty and great hearted- 
ness won him a host of loyal friends, while his resourceful 
sense of humor, native sagacity and spontaneous generosity 
made him conspicuously successful. He was an early presi- 
dent of the Illinois State Board of Agriculture and gave of his 
best years to the establishment of the State Fair at Springfield. 
His death occurred at his home, "The Walnuts," September 16, 
1916, at the ripe age of ninety-four. 



270 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A LUMBERMAN WHO LOVED LIVESTOCK 

105. A debt of gratitude is owed by the members of the 
Saddle and Sirloin Club to Henry F. Brown of Minneapolis, 
Minn. When the nucleus of this gallery was presented to the 
Club by Mr. Ogilvie, it was neccessary to find some means of 
financing the preparation of oil portraits of the other worthies 
who deserved the recognition of the Sanctum Sanctorum with 
them. Living men could well be honored by their friends, but 
those who had passed on, required a generous philanthropy 
from some appreciative disciple of the present day. This dis- 
ciple was found in H. F. Brown, and to his interest and finan- 
cial backing are due the portraits of Bakewell, Bates, Webb, 
Barclay, Torr, Cruickshank, Thomas Booth, Renick, Alex- 
ander and others. The amount of his contribution was very 
large financially, but even larger in its influence on the coming 
generation of American livestock men, for here is gathered a 
galaxy of livestock divinities that breathe an inspiration to all 
who behold. 

Henry F. Brown was born at East Baldwin, Me., October 10, 
1837. He was one of a family of ten children but his father 
was a man of suflBcient affairs to permit his education in the 
Baldwin and Fryeburg Academies. At the age of seventeen he 
sought his fortune in the west, entering upon the lumber busi- 
ness of Minnesota. So well did he prosper that on his retire- 
ment in 1896 he possessed large ore holdings in the Mesabe 
iron range, (under lease to the United States Steel Co.) a large 
lumber acreage, both virgin and cutover lands, and a magnifi- 
cent Shorthorn estate to which he devoted his remaining years. 
He was at one time president of the Union National Bank of 
Minneapolis and an organizer and director of the North Ameri- 
can Telegraph Co. His death occurred December 17, 1912, 
after a delaying battle of two years with disease. 




H. F. BROWN 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 271 

He bought the first acres of Browndale Farm in 1870, and 
two years later secured from the famous herd of CoL. W. S. 
King, the foundations on which his own Shorthorn operations 
were grounded. He paid little attention to the strife in blood- 
lines, and merit in form and function was the lodestar toward 
which he was attracted. The names of Young Nominee, Queen of 
Louans and Missie of Browndale 12th were familiar to breeders 
of three distinct epochs in Shorthorn history. In fact no man 
in America was able more truly to be christened veteran than 
he. For exactly forty years his herd was a figure in the Short- 
horn annals and for a period of thirty-four years he never failed 
to have an annual sale. From his herd 1,210 Shorthorns were 
sold for an average of $250, while thirty-three head left Brown- 
dale at prices between $1,000 and $2,025. 

In 1891 Mr. Brown became a director of the Shorthorn Asso- 
ciation, and later became its president. He provided an infinite 
force for good, detesting sham and pretense and always making 
public his own stand on essential issues. Throughout the dark 
days of business depression in the mid-nineties, he was a source 
of inspiration to his fellow breeders and delved deep into his 
pocket to tide over many a struggling youngster who had staked 
his all on the Shorthorn standard. 



272 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

HOST OF MAXWALTON 

106. Reid Carpenter, senior member of the firm of Car- 
penter & Ross, proprietors of Maxwalton Farm, was born at 
Mansfield, Ohio, June 6th, 1853. Mr. Carpenter was educated 
as a lawyer, and his early years were spent as a practicing attor- 
ney. From the vantage point gained in this position, he became 
interested in the manufacturing of sanitary appliances, and was 
ultimately made president, when the business was incorporated 
under the name of the Humphreys Mfg. Co. He first became 
interested in Shorthorns in 1902, placing a few purebreds on 
his farms just outside his native city. In 1903 he secured the 
services of Peter G. Ross, then herdsman for E. S. Kelly of 
Whitehall Farm, Yellow Springs, Ohio. In order to encourage 
Mr. Ross and to make him a permanent supporter of the busi- 
ness, he formed a partnership with him in 1905 under the firm 
name of Carpenter & Ross. 

The foundation of his success lay in the purchase of the 
imported Avalanche in the winter of 1903, the cow then being 
in calf to Whitehall Sultan. The following spring she dropped 
Avondale 245144, a bull without peer, and asserted by some to 
be without equal, as a sire. Avondale won first prize as two- 
year-old at the International, was breed champion of the Amer- 
ican Royal, and at other ages won prizes ranging from first to 
fourth in class. It was not as a show bull, however, that Avon- 
dale's success was marked, but rather through the showyard 
winnings and the sale values of his progeny. He was the sire 
of five International champions and over a score of first prize 
winners. Attempts to replace Avondale with bulls of other 
breeding proved unsuccessful, the most notable purchase being 
the imported Shenstone Albino, senior champion of the 1909 
International, sire of the 1913 champion Pride of Albion, and 
grandsire of the 1919 circuit champion Pride of Oakdale. On 
Avondale's death he was replaced by two of his sons, and only 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 273 

bulls of his blood have been extensively used in the herd ever 
since. 

Carpenter an4 Ross have imported large numbers of British 
and Scotch-bred animals, and have had exceptional averages 
almost from the start in their public sales. Mr. Carpenter was 
elected president of the American Shorthorn Breeders' Associa- 
tion in 1916 and in 1919, in company with his partner, he made 
an extensive tour of Great Britain, visiting all of the leading 
herds and historic points of Shorthorn interest. Following this 
trip, he and his partner laid the foundations of an Aberdeen- 
Angus herd as well, and were highly successful on the fall show 
circuit of 1920. 



274 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A MIGHTY MISSOURIAN 

107. For over eighty years the name of Ravenswood Farm 
has dominated the Shorthorn interests of the state of Missouri. 
The acreage itself was acquired in 1825 by Nathaniel Leonard, 
father of Captain Charles E, Leonard, the director of the 
farm for over a half century. The original purchase of Short- 
horns was made from George Renick of Kentucky, the year 
Captain Leonard was born, and included the six hundred dollar 
white bull Comet Star, and the five hundred dollar red heifer 
Queen. 

Capt. Leonard was born on Ravenswood itself, within a few 
miles of the present town of Bunceton. After a course in the 
Kemper School at Boonville he pursued studies at the Univer- 
sity of Missouri. Following his graduation he returned to the 
home farm, evincing an active interest in agricultural affairs. 
Following his marriage October 22, 1872, to MiSS Nadine N. 
Nelson of a prominent family of bankers, he settled to Short- 
horn promotion with a will. Under his direction, the entire 
twenty-two hundred acres were utilized for the support of 
Shorthorns, and many notable additions were made to the herd. 
At the historic New York Mills sale in 1873, three imported 
heifers were purchased. Charming Rose, Rosamond 8th, and 
Rosette, an average of $4,000 being paid for them. The success 
of the Scottish tribes in the hands of Col. Harris, made Capt. 
Leonard an ardent supporter of the northern sort. He secured 
Barbarosa from Senator Harris, at $1,000, and in the early 
part of the twentieth century acquired the Lockridge-bred (112) 
show bull. Lavender Viscount. His greatest breeding achieve- 
ment lay in the production of the dam of Americus, that sold 
in the Argentine in 1908 for $38,000 gold. 

Capt. Leonard was a notable judge of men and placed com- 
plete confidence in those he charged with responsibility. He 
afforded freest opportunity for his herd manager, Mr. Ed Pat- 



OF TFE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 275 

TERSON, to use his judgment and talents in the development of 
the herd. Capt. Leonard's work in behalf of the Shorthorn 
breed was much more extensive than the mere showing and sale 
of high class stock. He exerted a powerful influence in the 
formation of the American Herd Book and loaned the sum of 
$10,000 cash to complete the necessary $25,000 for the purchase 
of the old herd records of Mr. Louis F. Allen (96). 

From 1898 to 1902 he was president of the Shorthorn Asso- 
ciation, an<l served continuously as director from its organiza- 
tion in 1883 until his resignation in 1906. Captain Leonard 
had an extremely open mind with reference to cattle and pedi- 
gree value, and always recognized merit wherever found. He 
was a keen eyed judge whose services were sought in many a 
hotly contested ring, and his experience and viewpoints were 
treasured as strongly in the financial world, in which he exer- 
cised no mean authority in his later life. His <leath, March 8, 
1916, removed one more of that ever dwindling circle of con- 
genial pioneers that builded so well at the early Royal and 
International shows. 



276 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A DIRECTOR OF SHORTHORN DESTINIES 

108. In 1903 the herd of George Harding (115) & Son, which 
for years had been a vitalizing factor in the Shorthorn circles 
of Wisconsin and the Middle West was put up at public auction 
at the Union Stock Yards, Chicago, in order to permit Mr. 
George Harding to retire. For the first time the Saddle and 
Sirloin Club was used as a medium for the entertainment of 
the buyers at that sale, and it thereby was dedicated to a service 
in good fellowship among the breeders of America that it shall 
never forego. Mr. Frank Harding, junior partner of the firm, 
thereupon took over the entire Anoka establishment, and so 
developed and extended its operations that thenceforward it 
quite dominated showyard, salering and breeding herd. 

The foundation of Mr. Harding's phenomenal success was 
the noted show bull and sire, Whitehall Sultan 163573. This 
famous animal was imported in dam, being bred by J. Deane 
Willis, Bapton Manor. His sire was" an exceptionally good 
white bull sold to the Argentine, Bapton Sultan, and his dam 
was the Royal winner, Bapton Pearl. Of predominantly Scotch 
bloodlines, he carried through his dam the blood of Moon Daisy, 
of an English tribe bred by Deane Willis' father. Many con- 
sider the dash of English blood the foundation of his success 
as a sire. Whitehall Sultan was born to a show world, being 
dropped the property of E. S. Kelly, Whitehall Farm, Yellow 
Springs, Ohio, on the state fair ground at Springfield, 111., 
October 11, 1900. He was first shown as a two-year-old at the 
1903 International, where he won third place to Mr. Harding's 
Ceremonious Archer, sold for $5,000 to Col. Lowden. White- 
hall Sultan was forthwith purchased for Anoka Farms. In 1904 
he was defeated by Choice Goods at the World's Fair at St. 
Louis, but turned the tables on the latter bull at the Illinois 
State Fair. Whitehall Sultan lived to be eleven years old, and 
approximately 125 calves were dropped to his cover, mostly 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 277 

bulls. They were sufficient not only to give Mr. Harding a 
foremost rank among American breeders but also to dominate 
Shorthorn showrings to such a degree that in one period of six 
years more than 50 percent of the Shorthorn prize winners at 
the International claimed him for ancestor in first, second or 
third generation. His sons, Whitehall Marshal (138), White- 
hall King, Anoka Sultan, Sultan Stamp, and others were veterans 
of Anoka, while Avondale, Glenbrook Sultan and Royal Sultan 
established enviable records in other herds. 

In addition to his contribution of the Whitehall Sultan blood, 
Mr. Harding has done much in a commercial way for the Short- 
horn breed. He was the first man in America to try out con- 
sistently the calf sale idea, and has made it the regular means 
of distributing Anoka offerings. Furthermore in 1914 he was 
elected secretary of the American Shorthorn Breeders' Associa- 
tion, having previously been its president. In this capacity he 
has expanded the society's activities greatly, developing a staff 
of field workers for the breed to assist in sales, registration, 
purchases, fitting, and any other aid the small breeder may 
require; a service that has unified the breeders to a degree 
never hitherto known. In appreciation of this he was made 
executive of the association in June, 1920, and the secretarial 
duties were delegated to Roy Groves. Of recent years he has 
developed a farm at Wheaton, 111., where he will handle animals 
of too great age for his calf sales, and animals from other herds 
which he may distribute. Mr. Harding is still relatively a young 
man, being born in 1871, and his story is not yet finished. 



278 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A LEADER OF MODERN SHORTHORN PROGRESS 

109. There is an old breeder's adage to the effect that having 
found a successful sire, one should start immediately to look for 
a new one, on the theory that when the good animal is gone it will 
be too late to find his successor. Few students of bloodlines have 
realized how pertinently this applies to tribes and families, as 
well as to individuals. The man in American agriculture whose 
foresight permitted him to divine this truth was Colonel Wil- 
liam A. Harris, the founder of Linwood, and the custodian of 
the lamp that lighted the Shorthorn supporters to new achieve- 
ments following the days of the Duchess reaction. There is no 
question but what America's greatest nursery for all classes of 
purebred livestock was Woodburn Farm (82) and there is scarcely 
less certainty that its most worthy and specialized rival was found 
by the banks of the Kaw river, on the southern slopes of Linwood 
in eastern Kansas. 

Col. Harris' life was almost an epic. Born at Luray, Va., 
the son of a former congressman and Minister to Brazil, CoL. 
Harris received his' first training at the historic Virginia Military 
Institute. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was peacefully 
pursuing his studies under the guidance of the professor whose 
name comes down to us as "Stonewall" Jackson. Col. Harris' 
father was of that coterie of thinking men who opposed the policy 
of secession, but when the will of the majority cast the lot of the 
cavaliers' domain with the South, the younger Harris responded 
to the call. His progress in the military service was rapid and 
at Gettysburg he was Chief Ordnance Officer of one of the divi- 
sions in Longstreet's corps. Later campaigns against the Con- 
federacy completely wrecked the Harris fortune, and the recon- 
structive period saw him engaged in locating the Kansas Pacific 
railroad from Kansas City to Denver. Although engineer by 
training, his insight and instincts were agricultural, and he made 
mental note of the excellent grazing location some twenty-five 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 279 

miles west of Kansas City that afterward became Linwood. Col. 
Harris was placed in charge of the disposal of Government lands, 
granted, to the railroad as a subsidy for its building operations, 
and later was given control of the campaign for settling the short 
grass lands of Western Kansas. A season or two of crop failures 
convinced him of the almost criminal nature of the procedure and 
he abandoned the position. So successful was his work of this 
nature, that he was authorized to close out the Delaware Indian 
Reservation. His heart, however, was centered in cattle, and his 
energy, in preparing Linwood for his permanent home. In the 
early 80's he divorced completely his other operations and settled 
comfortably into the production of Shorthorns. 

Of a constructive yet inquisitive mind CoL. Harris felt that 
Shorthorn futures lay elsewhere than in the old Bates founda- 
tion, and, from a chance perusal of a Sittyton (89) catalog, he 
gleaned the idea that ultimately placed him foremost in the ranks 
of Shorthorn achievement. Through the intermediary operations 
of J. H. Kissinger of Missouri and James I. Davidson (117), 
CoL. Harris obtained a young bull of the Cruickshank blood. 
Baron Victor, at $1,100. In company with him came three thick 
Scotch heifers, Violet's Bud, Victoria 63rd and Victoria 69th. 
Baron Victor developed into a bull of magnificent conformation, 
burly and curly before the horn, massive in neck and chine, and 
prodigious in sprea4 of rib and depth of heart. His loin, quarter 
and flanks were heavy and his short leg set him squarely to the 
ground. Mated to the Marys, Josephines, Roses of Sharon and 
other Kentucky sorts, he realized instantaneously the ideal of 
quick maturing beef. His early progeny at Kansas City sales 
could scarcely be led fast enough into the ring to meet the 
breeders' demands. So successful was the Aberdeenshire blood 
that several importations were made by him direct from the 
Sittyton herd, and only the peerless Duthie held precedence over 
CoL. Harris in Mr. Cruickshank's esteem. 



280 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

The showyard was never a factor in Linwood's success. CoL. 
Harris* prowess was recognized almost before he had opportunity 
to advertise, and the competition for his products was keen from 
the outset. So important was his service and so well known his 
attainments, that in 1892 while selecting an importation in Britain, 
a political convention at Wichita unanimously nominated him for 
congressman-at-large for the state of Kansas. Against his better 
judgment he responded to the call, serving two terms in the House 
of Representatives. Following this, his Kansas supporters 
showed their appreciation by sending him to the Senate, but thr 
financial and political struggle proved too great for his later 
years. Linwood was dispersed and the acreage sold at a time 
of acute business depression, and at last he returned to his old 
relationship with the stockmen of the nation. 

During his declining years he wielded the gavel at many a 
sale, judged in the hottest contests of the ring, and assisted in 
the management of shows, and state and national agricultural 
conclaves. His last public service was that' of Managing Director 
of the International Livestock Exposition, and his last public 
address to the Shorthorn Breeders of America at their meeting 
of 1909. Within the walls of the Saddle and Sirloin Club, 
his was the patriarchal voice that all heeded, and his were the 
lips that counselled beginner and veteran alike in the steps of 
Shorthorn progress. His death in 1910 left a vacancy in the 
evening gatherings after show or sale that has never been filled. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 281 

AN EXPERT IN CATTLE VALUES 

110. James Brown, superintendent of the cattle buying for 
Armour and Company, was born on a farm near Springfield, 111. 
His chief interest lay always in livestock and the soil, and from 
his earliest days he has held more or less extensive farming inter- 
ests. Educational opportunities in his family were meagre, due 
to the death of his father when he was ten years of age. How- 
ever, he attended the rural school annually from December 1 
to March 1, until he was sixteen years old, when it became 
necessary for him to participate continuously with his brothers 
in the operation of the farm. Upon reaching his majority he 
decided to extend his interests, and while retaining his partner- 
ship in the farm, he entered upon the management of an elevator 
near Springfield and also established a tile factory. This was 
the first tile factory to be operated in Illinois outside of the 
Whitehall district, but in spite of the necessity of shipping some 
clays he managed to make it a success. After three or four 
years he went west and, in the spring of 1880 located at Buffalo, 
Wyo., near old Fort McKinney. He obtained some ranching 
property and sold his interest in the Illinois farm to extend his 
ranch holdings. During this period he lived in Springfield 
during the winter and went west for his cattle business in the 
summer. 

In 1889 he came to Chicago, where he first entered into part- 
nership in the commission firm of Ward & Brown as a cattle 
salesman. During the five years he was a member of this firm 
his work proved of such a nature that Mr. J. Ogden Armour 
(69) secured him for the cattle buying department of Armour 
AND Company, which position he has now held for over a quarter 
of a century. He is head of this department for all the markets 
on which Armour and Company operate, being in charge of their 
cattle buying throughout the United States. 



282 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

In 1908 he made the initial purchase of Shorthorns for his 
farms near Dundee and Elgin, 111. His herd in recent years 
has averaged about seventy-five head of cattle and was headed 
by the bull King's Secret, by King Cumberland, bred by the 
Elmendorf farm (68). This bull was followed by Bandmaster, 
Jr., of Canadian breeding, an animal that has proved peculiarly 
satisfactory. In June, 1919, he sold his herd down to very lim- 
ited numbers and is now rebuilding it with animals possessing 
the very best pedigrees he can secure. In addition to his 
Shorthorns he has bred some Shropshires, and has raised, and 
fed large numbers of lambs for market. His chief purpose in 
operating Thaxton Farms has been to bring the soil up to a 
very high state of cultivation, and he has been very successful 
in this regard. 

Mr. Brown has been a director of the International from the 
earliest years, and has particularly devoted his attention to the 
carload lots and the upbuilding of the cattle show. His 
acquaintance among the cattlemen of America is rivalled by 
few, and his career furnishes a challenge to every young man 
who must overcome apparently insurmountable obstacles. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 283 

AMERICA'S MOST CONSTRUCTIVE SWINE BREEDER 

111. The tale of Berkshire improvement in America is only 
complete when one considers Berkshire types in seasons before 
the a4vent of Wood Dale Farm in breeding and showrings, and 
the stamp that prevailed thereafter. "The Master Breeder, 
who has led the Berkshire breed up from the depths into a 
position of commanding eminence," is Nicholas H. Gentry. 
In early years the Berkshire was a short, compact fine-boned 
pig, whose prick ears and short face were deemed non-concomi- 
tant with the deep side, long body and finished scale that 
market bacon and, lard ideals demanded. So thoroughly had 
this notion been inculcated into the American swine producers, 
that the grass nurtured hog of the Miami valley and the mas- 
sive framed descendant of the Jersey Red gradually over- 
whelmed the qualitied progeny of English pork triumphs. To 
"Nick" Gentry more than to any other man, is due the credit 
for the re-establishment of the breed's prestige and the promo- 
tion of its distribution. 

N. H. Gentry was born on Wood Dale Farm, March 16th, 
1850. His grandfather, Reuben Gentry, had entered the land 
from the Government direct, and had settled on it in 1819, just 
one century ago. Not an acre of it has ever been transferred 
from the family and the title reads only in the Gentry name. 
The pioneer Gentry emigrated from Madison Co., Kentucky, to 
Missouri in 1809, fast on the heels of Daniel Boone. Both 
Reuben Gentry and son lived the fullness of their years on 
Wood Dale Farm, but it was not until 1875 when N. H. Gentry 
paid the Snells of Edmonton, Ontario, $1,800 for three imported 
Berkshires that the standard of purebred livestock was placed 
at the head of the farm policy. 

From the blood of these three individuals came the entire 
herds of later years. Mr. Gentry's system of linebreeding and 
inbreeding his Longfellows, Lees and Duchesses so patently 



284 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

demonstrated the value of pedigree matings, that a record of 
his showyard successes at America's two greatest livestock con- 
claves, the Columbian and Louisiana Purchase Expositions, is 
here presented. At Chicago Wood Dale Herd won seven firsts, 
seven seconds, two thirds, five fourths, two fifths, two sevenths, 
one eighth, one tenth, one eleventh and three championships, 
while animals of this breeding won an additional four firsts, 
six seconds, seven thirds, four fourths, three fifths, one sixth, 
one seventh, two eighths, one tenth, one eleventh and one 
twelfth. Mr. Gentry's King Lee was champion boar bred by 
exhibitor and his Baron Duke, reserve. Duchess 123d, daughter 
of his famous Longfellow, won a similar prize in the sows, 
with Duchess 118th reserve. At the St. Louis Fair sixteen firsts, 
seven seconds, four thirds, one fourth, two sevenths, two eighths 
and 14 champions (including barrows) fell to his lot. Such 
a triumph had never befallen any other swine exhibitor on this 
continent. 

Mr. Gentry has bred Shorthorn cattle simultaneously with 
his Berkshires, maintaining an average herd of 100 head. His 
success with early sires lay in the great "Linwood" breeding 
bull. Victorious, followed by the Choice Goods bull. The Choice 
of All, first at the American Royal of 1904. 

Mr. Gentry's public services and offices have been numerous. 
He was one of a committee of eighteen to represent the live- 
stock industry of America at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. 
For years previous to the Association of State Fair Managers, 
there existed an organization of livestock exhibitors which met 
annually at the Illinois State Fair, then the close of the state 
fair circuit. Mr. Gentry was president of this Association for 
some years, with G. Howard Davison, (8) secretary, and the 
organization went out of existence, only when the State Fair 
Managers' Association was born. Mr. Gentry has been a 
member of the State Board of Agriculture of Missouri for over 




N. H. GENTRY 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 285 

twenty years and a member of the State Fair Board from its 
incipiency He has been a director of the American Shorthorn 
Breeders' Association and the American Berkshire Association, 
and was president of the latter organization from 1896 to 1902. 
He was a member of the commission responsible for the Mis- 
souri display at the Columbian Exposition, and secured an 
appropriation of $20,000 for special premiums for Missouri 
livestock at this show. A similar position at the St. Louis Fair 
enabled him to obtain a $100,000 appropriation for Missouri 
exhibits. During the recent war he was on the committee of 
seven chosen by Food Administrator Hoover to determine the 
equitable ratio between corn and hogs for the period of the 
war, the much-talked-of 13 to 1 ratio. He was also a member 
of the National Agricultural Advisory Committee during the 
same period. 

Mr. Gentry's portrait was donated to the Saddle and Sir- 
loin Club by the members of the American Berkshire Associa- 
tion, and the letters from the hundred and forty-seven contrib- 
utors who expressed their appreciation of Mr. Gentry's serv- 
ices were bound in a single volume and presented to him by the 
Club. There have been many masters of swine husbandry in 
America during the century and a half since constructive atten- 
tion has been given to the forming of improved breeds, but Mr. 
Gentry, by the national nature of his service and the individual 
independence of his methods, towers the dominant figure among 
them. 



286 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A BATTLER FOR BETTER CATTLE 

112. S. F. LocKRiDGE shares with B. F. Van Meter (98) 
the honor of linking the generations of the Booth and Bates 
days of Shorthorn breeding with the present. "Sim" Lockridge 
was born in Putnam Co., Indiana, January 23, 1816, not far 
from the town of Greencastle where he at present resides. His 
education was received in the village school, but his earliest 
surroundings associated him with Shorthorns. In 1853 Dr. 
A. C. Stevenson made an importation of the breed from Eng- 
land, bringing them to Greencastle. Young LocKRiDGE became 
vitally interested in these animals, but his parents overruled 
any desires he had for a close association with them by requir- 
ing a strict attendance at the public school. 

The outbreak of the Civil War called him to army service, 
and he served in the 78th and 133rd regiments of Indiana vol- 
unteer infantry. In 1868 he graduated from Indiana Asbury 
University (now DePauw), and traveled and read law for three 
years. In 1872 he began breeding Shorthorn cattle, and for 
the following two years was president of the Putnam County 
Agricultural Society. He laid his Shorthorn foundations 
slowly, visiting many of the fairs of the early 70's to study 
both the Kentucky and Central West types before reaching his 
decision. His first Shorthorns were bought at the Hughes & 
Richardson sale of June, 1872, just across the road from head- 
quarters of the later-developed Elmendorf (68) estate. He 
picked a half dozen females of excellent individuality, but of 
rather plain breeding, for which he paid an average price of 
well above $600. The sale of Breastplate to Mr. Pickrell in 
1863 for $6,250 caused Mr. Lockridge to lean rather strongly 
toward the Booth cattle. He was unable to perceive why the 
Booths with wonderful backs, broad crops, thick flesh and 
straight lines, were to be condemned for their supposed failure 
in lineage. In 1874 he proceeded to Canada to attend several 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 287 

sales in the vicinity of Toronto. There he saw some of the very 
best of the early Scotch importations, and after a careful study 
of a number of sires secured from Mr. John Miller, (114) 
the great bull Lord Strathallan, for $2,050 gold, then the equiva- 
lent of $2,500 currency. This was his introduction to the Scotch 
sorts, and while he was not arbitrary in his promotion of them, 
he ever after combined Scotch bloods with his Booth founda- 
tions. His most noted bull following Lord Strathallan was 
Baron Lavender 3d, ^which he purchased in the spring of 1899. 
This bull proved an excellent sire for him and he never 
obtained from his service a bad or indifferent calf. Most nota- 
ble of these was Lavender Viscount, champion of the American 
Royal, Goldfinch, Royal Avalanche, Golden Crest and Sun- 
flower 4th. 

In 1874 Mr. Lockridge was elected secretary of the Ameri- 
can Association of Breeders of Shorthorns, which position he 
held until 1882. From 1881 to 1883 he was a member of the 
state senate of Indiana, and later became so strongly identified 
with Grand Army affairs as to be elected Commander of the 
Greencastle Post, and aide-de-camp on the staff of General Eli 
ToRRENCE, when the latter was Commander-in-Chief of the 
Grand Army of the Republic. In 1882 he was prominent 
among the founders of the American Shorthorn Breeders' Asso- 
ciation, being elected a director, a position he retained for 
twenty-seven years. In 1899 he was a delegate to the Farmers' 
National Congress in Boston, and in 1900-01 was president of 
the Central Shorthorn Breeders' Association. The following 
year he was elected president of the American Shorthorn Breed- 
ers' Association, to which he was subsequently twice re-elected. 



288 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Mr. Lockridge has been an ardent champion of the red, 
white and roan and has served its interests well since he has 
always paid highest attention to individuality, and has made 
pedigree fashion more or less subsidiary to his other demands. 
He has exerted a great stabilizing influence among his fellow 
breeders and has called forth numerous expressions of their 
esteem. In length of service he stands second only to Mr. Van 
Meter, and his years add richly to his personality and mem- 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 289 

KNIGHT OF THE GOLDEN DAYS 

113. Most delightfully reminiscent of all the makers of 
bovine history who were wont to gather at the old Drake-Parker 
hostelry in the days of the Lake Front Show, was Richard Gib- 
son, whom Mr. Sanders has fitly termed a "Knight of the 
Golden Days," Mr. Gibson possessed the essence of all those 
qualities that have made the Anglo-Saxon foremost as breed 
builders and inherent animal fanciers. He had an exceptional 
appreciation of the products of the breeder's art, and he loved 
with every fibre of his being, any choice representative of 
blooded race. "Like 'Jorrocks' of old he was a devout believer 
in the efficacy of 'a bit o' blood' whether it be in a 'orse, a 'ound, 
or a woman.' " He was an ardent admirer of rural English 
sport, the course, the chase, the coach and the cock-pit. He 
teemed with the sentiment that exalts rural beauty, and treasured 
its shades and odors. Shortly after coming to America he 
requested and received acorns from one of the royal domains 
of Britain, and having successfully grown them into seedlings, 
he presented some to the city of London, Ontario, for plant- 
ing in Victoria Park in commemoration of the coronation of 
King George. 

Richard Gibson was born February 20, 1840, almost within 
the shadows of Belvoir castle walls. He was the eldest of eight 
sons in a family of fourteen. In early life his father removed 
from Leicestershire to Derbyshire. He was educated in the 
grammar schools of Derby and Lincoln, and received his first 
business training in the office of a Lincoln grain merchant. Fol- 
lowing this, he returned to his father's farm, Swarkeston, and 
for four years worked patiently to learn the details of the farm- 
ing and livestock operations upon an estate of approximately 
600 acres. Here he managed to win several prizes for excep- 
tional work in plowing and cultivation. When twenty-one he 
and his brother John, (of Lincoln sheep fame in Canada), 



290 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

crossed over to Quebec, and went into service at George Rob- 
son's Spring Grove farm north of London. Here he rooted 
out the fundamentals of Canadian agriculture, and forthwith 
took charge of a fifteen hundred acre estate on Long Island, 
belonging to a New York ship builder. Finding that his tastes 
and activities had insufficient rein, he undertook the handling 
of the fourteen hundred acre farm near Utica, New York, owned 
by Walcock and Campbell of the New York Sheeting Mills, 
cotton manufacturers. Mr. Gibson induced the proprietors to 
enter into purebred livestock, and after a short experience with 
Ayrshires on the suggestion of Mr. Campbell, he succeeded in 
getting Shorthorns introduced. 

While America had early given allegiance to the Bates fam- 
ilies, England retained predominantly the Booth tribes. In 
the hope of popularizing the Warlaby stock, Mr. Gibson made 
a visit to Thomas C. Booth, (85) then at the pinnacle of his 
showyard career with the Royal champions Commander-in-Chief 
and Lady Fragrant. It had been a set policy of Warlaby never 
to sell females, an4.it was only when Mr. Gibson promised to 
take the animals out of Britain that a price was quoted. Among 
the ten head selected was the $5,000 show heifer Bride of the 
Vale. Two years later a like number of BoOTH-bred animals 
were again imported by him. Fearing the inroads of the War- 
laby animals, Mr. Sheldon, owner of all the Thorndale 
Duchesses, offered to sell a half of his herd. After some dis- 
cussion between Mr. Gibson and Mr. Campbell, the division 
was made, the Duchesses costing $5,500 apiece, and the Oxfords 
$2,800. A year later the remainder of the herd was taken over. 

About this time it was discovered that the only Duchesses of 
pure Bates descent were those owned at New York Mills, and 
in 1873, Britain and America matched pounds against dollars 
to secure possession of this noted collection. The astounding 
total of $381,999 was reached for 109 head, the top price being 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 291 

$40,600 for the 8th Duchess of Geneva. Following this, Mr. 
Gibson engaged in numerous enterprises on his own account, 
and in 1883 purchased Belvoir near the village of Delaware, 
Ontario. Mr. Gibson was an ardent lover of the English sort 
of Shorthorn, and, could not approve of the less stylish, though 
heavier-bodied Scottish stamp. For years he gamely fought a 
losing fight for Bates and Booth, but with the waning of their 
popularity he entered into broader fields. He was president of 
the Dominion Shorthorn Association, and the Canadian Kennel 
Club. He was a member of the agricultural commission 
appointed by the Ontario Government in 1880, and held numer- 
ous ofiSces in connection with a number of stock breeders' organ- 
izations both in the State and in Canada. 

Richard Gibson was a fluent conversationalist, and possessed 
an inexhaustible fund of cattle lore. His sense of humor 
assured him of an admiring audience, while his ability to weave 
romance won him a permanent place in the hearts of those who 
listened. 



292 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A PIONEER FOR THE SCOTTISH BLOODS 

114. One of the veteran stockbreeders of Ontario who worked 
so diligently to upbuild the Scottish Shorthorn interests in the 
early days of Canadian cattle breeding was Mr. John Miller 
of "Thistle Ha' " farm. Mr. Miller was born May 12, 1817, 
near Annan, Dumfrieshire, in Scotland. On April 12, 1835, 
he left Scotland in a sailing vessel and arrived at Markham, 
Ont., June 1, with a consignment of Leicester sheep and Berk- 
shire swine for his uncle, George Miller, another of Ontario's 
agricultural pioneers. For five years he worked steadfastly for 
this uncle, but on the arrival of his father and mother from 
Scotland he participated with them in clearing what is now 
known as the Atha farm. For eight years he worked for his 
parents, but in 1848 he bought Thistle Ha' so called from the 
bad state of its cultivation at its purchase. This ground orig- 
inally contained 165 acres, but from time to time more land 
was added until it included over a square mile. Except for 
100 acres of cedar land, this entire farm was kept in a high 
state of cultivation. . 

The year following his arrival in Ontario, he showed a young 
Shorthorn bull against all ages and breeds in a class of eight 
at the Toronto spring show, and took first prize. At the first 
provincial show in London, 1854, he won first and second on 
two imported yearling Shorthorn heifers. In 1857 he showed 
four two-year-old heifers and the bull Redkirk. He was very 
successful in all Dominion showrings, including the provincial 
fair and also won in several of the northern state fairs in the 
United States. In 1867 he purchased from J. H. Spear the cow 
Nellie Bly 2d for $1,000, after she had won first at St. Louis 
and several other places. She was the first bovine to be intro- 
duced to Canada at such a price and became the foundation of 
that branch of the Nelly Bly family that was for so many years 
popular in the provinces. About this same time he purchased 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 293 

the Prince of Bourbon, 6060, from R. A. Alexander, (82) and 
followed him with Oxford Mazurka, 8750, which he showed 
continuously for five years, only failing twice to take first 
money. In later shows Oxford Mazurka defeated the bulls that 
beat him on these two occasions, but owing to an injury he had 
ultimately to be killed. He dressed a carcass of 1870 pounds. 

In 1869 he and his brother William, (116) imported the 
renowned show cow Ruberta which was sold to Hon. M. H. 
Cochrane for $1,000, and later transferred to Col. W. S. King 
of Minneapolis for $2,000, where she enjoyed an exceptionally 
successful show career. In 1870 he imported a number of very 
good Scotch cows including the Highland champion, Rose of 
Strathallan. She reared ten calves for Mr. Miller and was 
the dam or grand-dam of an enormous number of prize winners. 
Her son, Lord Strathallan, was shown all over Canada and was 
very successful, winning first eleven times at leading American 
shows. In 1878 three bulls descended from this dam, won 
first, second and third places at Toronto, and the following 
year one of them gained the sweepstakes at the same place. In 
1881 her son. Crown Prince of Strathallan, defeated Messrs. 
Watts' celebrated Barmpton Hero, the only time he was ever 
beaten in the showring. Another cow of the same importation 
was Isabella, foundress of the favorably known Canadian family. 
She was never defeated in the showring except by her stable 
companion, Nelly Bly 2d. Mr. Miller's show herds of the late 
80's and early 90's were headed by the great show bull Vice 
Consul, a bull that was never defeated in class. 

In 1854 Mr. Miller imported his first Clydesdale, Rob Roy, 
and six years later brought over the famous Black Douglas. 
His best known mare at this time was the Canadian-bred Maggie, 
that had won twenty-two first prizes. She girthed eight feet 
and one inch. To the service of Black Douglas she produced 
the sweepstakes winner at the provincial show of 1863, winning 



294 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

over a number of imported horses. In 1865 he imported the 
far famed Comet 174, a horse that had traveled in Scotland 
one season, but that remained in service in Ontario for upwards 
of twenty years. Many of his colts were prize winners, and 
with the exception of Netherby 126, there was never a horse 
in Ontario that sired so many good colts. In 1875 he showed 
four imported mares at five different shows, and won first prize 
on each occasion. In 1882 he imported a horse and three mares, 
winning with them both at the Provincial and at Toronto. In 
1883 he imported thirteen animals and in 1884 nine, several 
prize winners being included in each lot. For the next four 
years he made extensive Scotch purchases but in 1887 and '88 
his sales were so large he was unable to show. In 1885 he won 
first with a Canadian-bred yearling by Boydston Boy, that 
defeated the first prize winners at the English Royal, the Royal 
Northern, and the Glasgow Summer show that year. He sold 
this horse for $2,500, the highest price ever received, for a 
Canadian-bred drafter up to that time. 

During his first ten years he imported and bred Leicester 
sheep and for the next fifteen, maintained a flock of Cotswolds 
as well, but from 1860 to 1880 he bred Cotswolds only, with 
the exception of a few Shropshires handled between 1863 and 
1867. From 1880 onward, however, extensive importations of 
Shropshires were made and the foundations of many successful 
flocks both in showyards and breeding pens were laid in Thistle 
Ha' purchases. In 1887 his Shropshires won the silver medal 
at Toronto for the best middle or fine wool flock, and in 1888 
they won the flock prizes both at the Provincial and at Toronto. 
In 1889 he sold from the farm eighty-five Cotswolds and 425 
Shropshires, his stud rams being the imported ram Director 
and the undefeated English and Canadian champion lamb, 
Spearman. For a number of years Mr. Miller paid consid- 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 295 

erable attention to Berkshires, but after 1880 made no attempt 
to keep up the pedigrees. He died August 29, 1904. 

John Miller's integrity and good judgment made him a 
servant of highest value to the stock raising public. His 
influence on both Canadian and American flocks and herds was 
second to none and the number of breeders who traced their 
success to his foundations became greater with each year of his 
operations. 



296 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

FOUNDER OF ANOKA HERDS AND FLOCKS 

115. The word Anoka in the language of the Wisconsin 
Indians means "wind-favored spot." It was chosen by George 
Harding as the name of his Wisconsin farm more than a quarter 
of a century ago, at a time when his success in the Shorthorn 
worl4 demanded a dignified title for the produce he was annually 
vending to an eager and constructive trade. 

Mr. Harding was born in Pittsfield, New York, in 1840, a 
few months after the arrival of his parents from Winchester, 
England. His boyhood days were spent in Ohio, in the vicinity 
of Painesville, where his father and General Casement, finan- 
cier and pioneer railway promoter of Kansas and Colorado, 
grew in business together. In 1880, Mr. Harding migrated to 
Wisconsin, where he engaged in a hardware mercantile business 
in both Waukesha and Chippewa Falls. After nine years of 
pursuit of this industry, Mr. Harding purchased 160 acres near 
Waukesha, which ultimately became known as Home Farm 
among the Anoka Farm holdings. 

In 1870 he decided to embark in the breeding of Cotswold 
sheep and Shorthorn cattle. The Cotswolds were secured from 
the flock of Abner Strawn, Ottawa, 111., and became a chief 
source of supply of sheep of this breed in later years. In 1885 
Mr. Harding advanced the money necessary to put the American 
Cotswold Association on its feet, taking pay in the stock of the 
Association. His son was elected secretary and a turning point 
in the society's finances occurred. The registration became self- 
supporting and funds became available for use as prizes at the 
leading fairs and expositions. Shropshires were added to Anoka 
about 1900, and Hampshires have been handled at intervals 
since. 

The first Shorthorns were secured from C. C. Park, Glen Flora 
Farm, Waukegan; a bull named Baron Bertram and two heifers, 
whose total cost was $1,200. From the bluegrass breeders he 




GEORGE HARDING 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 297 

secured the majority of his early Anoka stock, but he obtaine«l 
some in the Genesee Valley in New York, and a particularly 
good lot of Young Marys and Roses of Sharon from W. A. Sat- 
TERWHiTE of Illinois. His first Scotch Shorthorn was the bull 
Strathearn, secured from John Miller, (114) Brougham, Ont. 

He entered the showring about 1875, and remained in it 
annually for a period of twenty-eight years when he turned his 
responsibilities over to his son, Frank W. Harding (108). In 
the contests of the early 80's he occupied a conspicuous position 
in the leading western shows, Strathearn being a good forerunner 
of Cupbearer and Young Abbotsburn. Scotch females were 
secured by direct purchase abroad or from the stocks of CoL. 
Harris, (109) John Miller (114) and Luther Adams. 
His greatest years in the showring were his later ones, his 
achievements of one year being the foundation on which he 
builded better for the succeeding years. The grand champion at 
the first American Royal in 1900 was Viscount of Anoka, cham- 
pion at most American shows for a period of two years, while 
Best of Archers not only did yeoman service in the ring, but 
begot the 1903 International champion, Ceremonious Archer, out 
of his veteran Lady-in-Waiting. 

Toward the close of his career, Mr. Harding served as a dis- 
tributor of numerous lots of cattle of other than his own breed- 
ing, and in 1901, despite the desperate drouth that enthralled 
the entire Mississippi Valley, he held an exceptionally successful 
sale at the Dexter Park Pavilion in Chicago, making $657 average 
on 43 head. Throughout the 1900 and 1901 show season the 
Anoka her4 won first more times than any herd with which it 
competed, except that of J. G. Bobbins & Sons. At the 1901 
Royal, Anoka's Golden Victor won the Armour trophy for the 
best bull of the breed. In 1903, Mr. Harding planned the dis- 
persion of his Anoka herd in order to effect a settlement of his 
interests with his son and to permit his retirement. Eleven bulls 



298 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

averaged $489.05 and seventy-seven cows, $467.75. The herd 
bull Best of Archers reached the top at $1,605. 

Two large manufacturing plants were maintained by Mr. 
Harding in Waukesha, the Modern Structural Steel Co., an4 the 
Waukesha Malleable Iron Co. At one time he was mayor of 
the city and gave much time to the upbuilding and beautification 
of the community. His death in 1909 closed a lifetime of pro- 
gressive service. George Harding was a man of few words but 
many thoughts. Like most men of real power, he was self con- 
tained and unassuming. For a period of thirty years he actively 
supported every constructive movement tending toward the bet- 
tering of Wisconsin livestock, and Anoka has been identified with 
almost every operation that has builded toward higher values and 
broader recognition of the Badger state's fundamental industry. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 299 

A HUSBANDMAN FROM OXFORD 

116. Another representative of the Aberdeenshire Miller family 
that played so important a role in the Shorthorn and Clydesdale 
history during the formative days of Canadian agriculture was 
Mr. William Miller, nephew of George Miller of Markham, 
Ontario, and brother of Mr, John Miller (114). Mr. Miller's 
father was also named William Miller, and he was partner 
with George Miller in some of the early enterprises which intro- 
duced Scotch Shorthorns from the north of Caledon. William 
Miller, Jr., was born in 1834 near Ecclefechan, Dumfrieshire, 
Scotland. He was educated in the common schools of Canada 
and at Oxford University, gaining a training that gave him a 
most facile expression in later life. The rudiments of livestock 
were learned on his father's farm, near Pickering, Ontario, to 
which place he came in 1839. During the period extending from 
1854 to 1861, numerous importations were made into Canada 
from the herd of Robert Syme of Redkirk, Dumfrieshire, by 
George and William Miller. With the first lot Mr. Miller 
brought over that showyard veteran, SiMON Beattie. The original 
selections in large part were made by William Miller, Jr., then 
a young man making his first tour of the old country herds and 
flocks. Mr. Miller selected the bull Redkirk 15138, a fine roan 
of medium size that was shown by Mr. John Miller, and later 
sold into New York. In the spring of 1869, Mr. William Miller 
imported the grand roan show heifer Ruberta, bred by the 
Messrs. Garne of Broadmoor, Gloucestershire. This heifer was 
fed out for show by John and William Miller and successfully 
exhibited previous to being sold to M. H. Cochrane at Hillhurst. 

In 1881 he undertook the management of a farm owned by a 
Mr. Simpson, collector of customs in Montreal, but in 1884 went 
to Hillhurst. In the fall of 1886, Mr. Luther Adams, Boston, 
Mass., secured a large farm at Storm Lake, Iowa, and commis- 
sioned William Miller to stock it, and to secure a shipment of 



300 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

the best young cattle obtainable in Scotland. By this time Mr. 
Miller was known on both sides of the water as a shrewd, keen 
witted "all around judge," and his seasoned maturity and broad 
acquaintance stamped him as one of the makers of American 
Shorthorn history. Canadian quarantine regulations had at this 
time rendered it impossible to forward more of the Sittyton 
surplus to Mr. Davidson, (117) and Mr. Miller's fortunate 
arrival at this time to secure the 1886 shipment permitted Mr. 
Luther Adams' herd to become the final American outlet for 
Mr. Cruickshank. Only one bull was secured in this importa- 
tion, the red calf Harvester by Baron Violet, but a number of 
choice heifers were included, Simplicity, Gwendoline, Athene, 
Golden Feather, Sorrel, Golden Crest and Violet Mist. Mr. 
Miller made a strong attempt to secure the bull Commodore, 
a noble roan by Baron Violet out of the famous Custard, dam of 
Cumberland, then Mr. Cruickshank's herd bull. Mr. Cruick- 
shank would not price him, however, so Mr. Miller visited the 
Collynie and Uppermill herds, securing a number of young stock 
by Field Marshal and William of Orange. The most notable 
bull secured in this importation was the yearling Cupbearer 
which had just been sold by Mr. Duthie to an Ontario breeder, 
and sent to Liverpool for shipment. On account of the Canadian 
quarantine, he had to be returned to Collynie, whereupon Mr. 
Miller secured him for Mr. Adams. During the previous sum- 
mer he had won first prize in his class at the Royal Northern, 
and had stood reserve champion to Field Marshal. This bull 
really proved to be the making of the Adams herd, winning 
everywhere in the seasons of 1888 and 1889, and being American 
Champion until defeated by the magnificent Young Abbotsburn. 

In 1887 Mr. Miller brought out a magnificent herd for Lake- 
side headed by the thick fleshed compactly built red Stratheam, 
bred by John Miller. The cow and the two-year-old in this herd 
were the remarkable Miss Ramsden's 9th and 10th. In the fall 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 301 

of this year Mr. Miller again visited Scotland and secured 31 
heifers and 39 bulls, all from the herds of Cruickshank, Duthie, 
Marr and Campbell. This was the largest importation ever made 
directly from Aberdeenshire to the United States, and included 
the great roan Princess Alice and the famous Craven Knight, both 
ultimately in the herds of Col. Harris (109), also the well 
known Gay Monarch purchased by J. G. Robbins & Sons. In 
1889, Mr. Miller made the last importation for Mr. Adams, 
consisting of 12 young bulls and 18 heifers. Soon after the 
animals had gone through quarantine, Mr. Adams -dispersed his 
entire stock, Strathearn going to George Harding (115) and 
Cupbearer to John Hope, of Bow Park. Sixteen yearling heifers 
and Craven Knight were secured by CoL. Harris. Lakeside farm 
itself was sold to Mr. T. H. Sherley of Louisville, Ky. 

In 1891 William Miller succeeded John T. Gibson in charge 
of the North Oaks herd of James J. Hill, but remained only a 
year. On its dispersal in 1893, half of the herd went to Mr. 
Sherley of Lakeside farm and Mr. Miller resumed management. 
In 1898 he purchased the farm from Mr. Sherley, stocked it 
with Aberdeen-Angus and feeding cattle and spent his declining 
years on that valuable Iowa property. He died December 21, 
1905, one of the most widely known and most fundamental 
contributors to the Aberdeenshire success in America. He made 
nearly one hundred trips across the Atlantic, exporting steers as 
well as importing breeding stock. He handled several loads of 
the famous Gillett cattle for British butcher buyers. Mr. Miller 
was a writer of great skill. His father was an intimate and 
valued friend of Thomas Carlyle and he inherited much of the 



302 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

senior Miller's pronounced literary genius. On one occasion 
Mr. D. T. Mitchel (Ik Marvel) contributed to a Christmas 
Breeder's Gazette, and referred to an article of Mr. Miller's in 
a previous issue with this comment, "When you can secure such 
matter as Mr. Miller's article of last year, from within the ranks 
of your own constituency, I do not see why you need call pro- 
fessional literary men to your aid." 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 303 

AN IDEAL SCOT 

117. The death of James Ironside Davidson on February 15, 
1902, at his beautiful home near Balsam, Ontario, removed from 
the roll of Canadian purebred stockbreeders one of its most prom- 
inent, successful and interesting figures. Mr, Davidson was a 
man of sterling character and unsullied honor, of splendid phy- 
sique and kindly disposition; his genial manner numbering on 
his list of friends a host of lovers of good livestock in Canada, 
the United States and Scotland. Mr. Davidson's specialties in 
stockbreeding were Clydesdale horses and Shorthorn cattle, he 
was a safe and sound judge of both classes, a successful importer 
and breeder, and a liberal and judicious feeder. He enjoyed the 
personal friendship and confidence of Amos Cruickshank (89) 
and for some years was the principal importer and distributor of 
the Sittyton cattle on this side of the Atlantic. 

Mr. Davidson was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1818 
and emigrated to Canada in 1842. His first agricultural invest- 
ment was in his farm where he built himself a good log house, 
and prepared a stable for a $165 team of horses, six cattle and 
four sheep. The six cattle cost him $80. Mr. Davidson remarked 
that these were "no very high prices, but when I had the progeny 
to sell, it reminded me of a friend of mine who often told me 
he was a good buyer; few could buy as quick as he, but he never 
was a good hand at selling." Mr. Davidson experienced the 
same diflBculty in this new country. He had paid cash for his 
purchases, but in order to sell had to give credit or take articles 
he did not want. He lost no opportunity to improve his stock 
by the use of the best animals he could find, and, electrified his 
neighbors by selling a three-year-old steer just off the grass, 
to the Toronto butcher, Mr. John Clark, for the cash sum of 
$50. So pleased was Mr. Clark, by his purchase that he recom- 
mended Mr. Davidson to feed some animals for Christmas and 



304 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Easter, advice which Mr. Davidson followed, securing $100 for 
a steer, and $125 for a three-year-old heifer. 

He began feeding Shorthorns about 1860, but it was not until 
1871, when the Shorthorn world was topsy-turvy on linebred 
cattle and paying fabulous prices for paper pedigrees, that he 
made his first importation of the composite blooded cattle from 
Sittyton. This was the third importation from this herd to enter 
Canada, but the first to make any permanent impress on the 
stocks of the day. 

In 1872 he made another small importation from Sittyton and 
found such ready sale for them that, in 1874, he brought one bull 
and nineteen females across. The following year he sold his 
first Cruickshank cattle into the United States, Dr. Noel of 
Tennessee securing two heifers at $1,800, and Mr. J. H. Kissinger 
of Missouri purchasing a carload which he exhibited in the show- 
rings in Missouri, Iowa and Illinois. This created a demand for 
Cruickshank cattle far beyond Mr. Davidson's supply, and 
although he imported 185 head he could scarcely keep any 
females for his own use. Many calves of his own breeding 
realized $500 apiece, and in 1880 when there was but little 
demand for Shorthorns he disposed of six calves to the Messrs. 
Snider for $1,500, which were resold on the next day to Mr. 
Palmer of Missouri for $2,000. At Mr. Palmer's dispersion 
these animals brought $4,560. Mr. Davidson continued import- 
ing for Mr. Cruickshank until 1886 when the outbreak of pleuro- 
pneumonia during quarantine at Quebec made him unwilling to 
run any further risks. 

About this time Mr. Cruickshank decided to dispose of his 
herd, and gave Mr. Davidson the first offer for it. So high was 
the esteem in which each held the other, that the following quota- 
tion from a letter written by Mr. Cruickshank at the close of 
their mutual transactions stated: "I am quite satisfied with the 
statement, and taking a retrospective view of our transactions for 




JAMES I. DAVIDSON 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 305 

SO many years, and they have been very extensive, it seems to me 
almost marvelous that they have gone on so smoothly, not a jar 
on either side; it is cause for great thankfulness, and I don't 
want our correspondence to drop." 

Mr. Davidson began breeding Clydesdales in 1886. In that 
year he imported Darling 1st, a prize winner at the Highland 
Show. She produced three foals for Mr. Davidson, the first one 
being his famous Darling 2d, that produced progeny which he 
sold for a sum above $10,000. Darling 2d had nine foals, and 
the lowest price for any single one was for the yearling filly, 
Darling 3d which sold for $1,000. In the stud of Mr. Moffatt, 
Darling 3d gave rise to some thirty-five descendants, ten of which 
sold for over $10,000, and the other twenty-five served as Mr. 
Moffatt's producing stud. 

Mr. Davidson was a modest man of retiring disposition but 
there came a time when his political friends insisted that he was 
the only man who could carry the riding to their interest. In 
1891 he was elected by a majority to the Canadian House of 
Commons, a position he held until his death. His vigorous con- 
stitution and mentality was maintained until the last, and with 
the exception of failing eyesight, he enjoyed almost perfect 
health until within a week of the end. An attack of pneumonia, 
however, could not be controlled, and he passed away peacefully 
in his 84th year, honored and esteemed by all who knew him. 
Mr. John Dryden (14) published an enconium on Mr. Davidson 
in which he stated as a highest form of compliment, that "Mr. 
Davidson was a typical Scotchman." Mr. William Miller 
(116) wrote Mr. Ogilvie (6) this quaint and expressive com- 
ment, "Mr. Davidson was not a typical Scotchman, as John 
Dryden says; he was an ideal Scot!" 



306 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

KEEPER OF THE SHORTHORN SEALS 

118. Since the beginning of Hlinois' agricultural history, 
Sangamon county has stood for the best in improved livestock, 
and some of the earliest Shorthorn herds were cradled within its 
environs. Nurtured in this progressive atmosphere, numerous of 
her sons have stepped out from her borders to render the highest 
of services to purebred livestock breeding. Such a man was 
John W. Groves, secretary of the American Shorthorn Breeders' 
Association from 1901 to 1912. Born in 1849 and possessed of 
a good common school education, Mr. Groves early took a 
prominent part in the rather extensive business affairs in which 
his father and brothers were engaged near Williamsville, HI. 
Nurtured on the farm his interests naturally ran to farm products, 
and he bred and fed market cattle for a term of years during the 
latter 70's and early 80's. An opportunity for personal advance- 
ment brought him to Chicago in the livestock commission busi- 
ness about 1885, but he soon tired of the atmosphere and did not 
realize his expectations, due to the business depression of the 
period. Hence about 1890 he returned to Williamsville and once 
more participated with his family in their business there. He 
took charge of one of the several farms operated by George 
Groves & Sons, and in addition conducted a flourishing business 
as buyer and shipper of market stock. In 1894 he was elected 
treasurer of his county, retaining that position until 1898. 

The following year Mr. Groves entered into his first relations 
with the Shorthorns, when upon the recommendation of J. Frank 
Prather, (119) his associate in a Williamsville bank, he was 
elected assistant secretary of the American Shorthorn Breeders' 
Association. At that time Mr. Pickrell (95) was beginning to 
lose some of that sturdy vigor which had characterized the earlier 
years of his life, and due to insufficient help the work of the 
office had piled up to about a twelve-month arrearage. On Mr. 
Pickrell's demise in 1901, Mr. Groves was made his successor 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 307 

and immediately set about bringing the work up to date. An 
office force of five clerks was increased to about twenty who 
worked in day and night shifts, and when in 1903 the location 
of the office was changed from Springfield to Chicago in the new 
Pedigree Record building, the work of registration was well in 
hand. He continued as breed secretary until his death, April 2, 
1912. 

Mr. Groves inaugurated two changes in the record system of 
Shorthorns which in addition to economizing space had an excel- 
lent influence on the habit of pedigree thinking among Shorthorn 
breeders. The clumsy system of the earlier volumes wherein 
a cow was given a page an4 volume number was replaced by 
registration numbers similar to those used in the bulls. Further- 
more, instead of printing the extended pedigree with its undue 
weight on imported or foundation cows, a single line system 
was adopted which gave sire and dam only, omitting the previ- 
ously stressed female descent. 



308 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A STEADFAST DEFENDER OF THE FAITH 

119. J. Frank Prather, Hlinois Shorthorn veteran, was born 
January 24, 1859, in Pike Co., Ohio. In his early years his 
father John Prather, an extensive feeder of market cattle, re- 
moved to Williamsville, 111., where he pursued his livestock activi- 
ties. Mr. Prather was educated in the rural schools, receiving 
a partial high school education in Williamsville. At the age of 
sixteen, he assumed care of the show herd of his brother, Samuel 
E." Prather. The head of the herd was Brurer's Booth, and the 
two principal females were Queen of Riverdale and Silly Dale, 
the latter two tracing to imported White Rose by Publicola. In 
1877 his father purchased for him the farm he at present occu- 
pies, and the following year he embarked on the breeding of 
Shorthorns. 

His most noted years with the Shorthorns date from his asso- 
ciation with C. B. Dustin in 1891. He was at that time anxious 
to secure a bull with which to head his herd, and learning that 
Mr. Dustin was going to Scotland, made arrangements with him 
to secure a herd bull from Duthie of Collynie. Mr. Dustin's 
herdsman selected for him two bulls and eight heifers, but one 
of the heifers failed to suit, so Mr. Dustin traded him for a 
promising bull calf he discovered in the pasture. Of the two 
bulls first purchased by Mr. Dustin, Mr. Prather secured 
Duke of Hamilton 2d, and he also retained a half interest in the 
calf. This calf developed rapidly, and attained a showyard 
record equalled by few bulls of the breed. He was named Baron 
Cruickshank, and was used turn about by Mr. Prather and 
Mr. Dustin, year by year, until he was five years old. Baron 
Cruickshank weighed 2,640 pounds in mature shape, but was 
not coarse in frame, and possessed a smoothness and mellowness 
of flesh seldom equalled. Wlien Baron Cruickshank reached his 
fifth year, the partners deemed it inadvisable to ship him about 
so much, hence Mr. Dustin gave Mr. Prather the bull Proud 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 309 

Archer, sent to Mr. Dustin by Duthie, for his interest in the 
older bull. In late years he has used another bull of excellent 
character and some renown as a sire, the white Silver Knight, by 
Good Knight, by Choice Knight, by Choice Goods. 

For many years Williamsville was without a bank, an4 in the 
early 90's, Mr. Prather, Mr. Groves (118), the elder Jones 
and W. L. Perce formed the corporation of J. F. Prather & 
Co., to establish a banking business. From the outset Mr. 
Prather was president of the organization, and he has developed 
a large banking institution. For a number of years Mr. Prather 
was a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and acted as 
treasurer both before and after its re-organization. For many 
years he was active in the American Shorthorn Association, 
being a director for twenty-two seasons, and president from 
December, 1908, to December, 1910. Here he proved a great 
steadying influence, and his word carried great weight in all of 
the breed councils. Mr. Prather has been fortunate in securing 
title to large acreage of farm lands in Illinois, Missouri and 
Kansas, and has established one of the most satisfactory tenant 
systems in the corn belt. He is generous and wise and has done 
much that is philanthropic in his relations to his fellowmen. 

With modest humor Mr. Prather says, "Fortune has smiled 
upon me from the start. I escaped the political germ, always 
so prolific in the dear old Buckeye state, and never held a poli- 
tical office in my life. What positions of trust or honor I have 
occupied were due to the kindness of my friends and not on 
account of any marked ability on my part for the work. If the 
sun shines upon me as bright and my friends remain as true for 
the balance of the time alloted me, I will feel well repaid for 
any suff"ering or disappointments I have experienced. Yester- 
day is gone, the books are balanced, and all I ask of tomorrow 
is health, and the respect and good will of my neighbors and 
friends." 



310 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A MISSOURI MENTOR OF THE CATTLE RING 

120. Seldom does it become the lot of man to gain so close a 
personal relationship to his fellows, to stimulate and sustain by 
sound counsels so large a coterie of livestock students, and to 
influence so many men to adopt higher ideals of husbandry, as 
befell George Purdy Bellows, Shorthorn breeder, auction sales- 
man and representative of the agricultural press. Few men 
indeed have had so broad and accurate a knowledge of the vari- 
ous breeds of livestock, and fewer still his judicious understand- 
ing of pedigrees and his keen sense of values in cattle form and 
quality. The untimeliness of his death, February 17, 1913, 
shocked not only his Shorthorn colleagues, but the entire fra- 
ternity of agricultural workers in America. 

Col. Bellows was born in the Prairie State, July 19, 1862, 
under the shadow of the present University of Illinois. At three 
years of age his parents removed to Guilford, Mo., in whose 
public schools he received his early education. Following gradu- 
ation he put in two years at the University of Missouri. In 1881 
he entered partnership in Shorthorn breeding with his father, 
Frank Bellows, and his brothers, under the firm name of 
Bellows & Sons, Two years later the family moved to Mary- 
ville, Mo., where Valley Home Farm was founded. 

At this time CoL. Bellows embarked on a separate career. 
He taught in public school and was made deputy county clerk 
for Nodaway county. In 1888 he repurchased an interest in 
Valley Home Farm, but five years later he decided to assume 
additional responsibilities by becoming livestock advertising 
solicitor for the Pierce publications, notably the Iowa Home- 
stead and the Livestock Indicator. In 1904 he dropped this work 
to become an auctioneer of a pedigreed stock, a profession fol- 
lowed until his death. 

On the death of his father, the firm name became Bellows 
Bros., and Col. Bellows became interested in building up the 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 311 

herd on Westlawn Farm, an addition to the firm property. He 
was fond of the Choice Goods blood and introduced much of it 
into his herd at the Tebo Lawn dispersion. His efforts proved 
extraordinarily successful, and several International and Royal 
champions and first prize winners were produced. 

Col. Bellows was a man of much public spirit and great 
kindliness toward his fellowmen; thoughtful, lovable, conserva- 
tive, his justice and honor made him one of the most trusted 
men in the salesring and he conducted vendues in almost every 
state and in Canada. He was a popular judge in the biggest 
shows and a trusted agent and buyer for old and young breeders. 
His death through the overturning of his automobile, following 
the International of 1912, brought tragedy into many loyal hearts. 
A friend wrote. "If the breeding of Shorthorns had brought me 
no other recompense than the intimate friendship of such men 
as George P. Bellows, I should feel that much had been accom- 
plished toward the things that make life worth while." 



312 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

EVERYONE'S ADVISER ON LIVESTOCK ADVERTISING 

121. Perhaps the most successful field representative of the 
livestock journals is George Edgar Martin of The Breeder's 
Gazette, Chicago. Mr. Martin was born in New Richmond, Wis., 
January 19, 1870. With his parents he moved to Sac Co., Iowa, 
in 1875, and spent his boyhood on Lakeside farm near Storm 
Lake, Iowa. His father was a pioneer breeder of Aberdeen- 
Angus, founding his herd with purchases from B. R. Pierce, (59) 
Evans & Son, T. W. Harvey and Wallace Estill. He devel- 
oped early a love for highclass livestock, and left the farm for 
college with a feeling of regret that he was to part company with 
some of the veterans of his father's herd to which he had become 
warmly attached. 

At eighteen years of age he entered Drake University at Des 
Moines, completing a two year course, and two years later 
became a student of the State University of Iowa, at Iowa City, 
where he finished in law in 1894. He opened an ofl&ce at Carroll, 
Iowa, not far from his boyhood home, and practiced his profes- 
sion for three years, during which time he was elected to the 
ofiSce of city attorney. Law, however, failed to appeal to him, 
and when in 1899 he was offered a position on the field force of 
Wallace's Farmer, he quickly took advantage of it. One year 
later he was secured by The Breeder's Gazette to become its 
eastern business representative, a position he held until he was 
placed in charge of all their livestock advertising, early in 1920. 

George Martin has created more permanent associations with 
leading livestock breeders of America than any man in his chosen 
field. From the start, he has insisted on absolute honesty in the 
execution of contracts, and has proved to be one of the best 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 313 

business getters for breeders offering their surplus at public 
sales, that American livestock history has known. He enjoys 
to the fullest the confidence of both young and veteran breeders, 
has executed numerous commissions for the purchase of herd 
bulls, boars an-d stallions, and has created high values for the 
vender of purebred livestock without resorting to a fictitious 
system of paper credits. George Martin's integrity is unassail- 
able, his popularity nationwide, and his personality a potent 
factor in the stabilizing of purebred livestock values. 



314 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

PIONEER OF THE VETERINARY PROFESSION 

122. One of the youngest professions auxiliary to the livestock 
industry is that of veterinary medicine. For centuries, the horse 
doctor and the quack who gained their living either by practical 
experience or through the credulity of the earlier husbandmen, 
have existed but the organization of knowledge on this subject 
and its Signification as a profession have been matters of the 
last third of a century. Foremost among the apostles of this 
movement is Dr. James Law of Cornell University. 

Dr. Law was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, February 12, 1838. 
He was educated in the Edinburgh public schools, and later 
graduated from the veterinary medical schools located there, 
taking his final degree from the University College of Surgeons. 
Not content with the information he was able to gain here, he 
proceeded to France, and took further work in the Ecole Veteri- 
naire at Alfort near Paris, and at the Ecole Veterinaire at Lyons. 
In 1857 he received his degree of V.S. from the Highland and 
Agricultural Society, and was made a member of the Royal 
College of Veterinary. Surgeons in 1863, receiving his Fellowship 
in 1870. From 1860 to 1865 he was professor of Anatomy and 
Materia Medica at the Edinburgh New Veterinary College. The 
following two years he was professor at the Albert Veterinary 
College in London, but in 1868 was called by the late Hon. 
Andrew D, White to Cornell University at Ithaca, New York, 
as Professor of Veterinary Science. In 1896 he was made Direc- 
tor and Dean, and in 1908 received the title of Professor Emeri- 
tus. During the years of his professorship at Cornell he was 
Veterinarian to the New York State Agricultural Society. From 
1882 to 1883 he was chairman of the United States Treasury 
Cattle Commission and selected the sites for the quarantine deten- 
tion station. In 1887-8 he was in charge of the field work of 
the Bureau of Animal Industry for the extinction of the cattle 
lung plague in the states of Illinois and New York. He was 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 315 

National President of the American Veterinary Medical Associa- 
tion in 1906 and 1907. 

Dr, Law was an author of wide repute. He published a Gen- 
eral an4 Descriptive Anatomy of Domestic Animals in two vol- 
umes, a text book of Veterinary Medicine in five volumes, and 
a Farmer's Veterinary Advisor. He was the producer of num- 
erous scientific monographs, and came into closest contact with 
the farmers of America through his preparation of various arti- 
cles in the Bureau of Animal Industry publications on Diseases 
of Cattle and Diseases of the Horse. 

Dr. Law's greatest service to his profession lay in the idealism 
which he injected into its development and his uncompromising 
stand for thoroughness and honesty in the necessary cleanups 
of livestock disease that have occurred during the last forty 
years. 

He came from a country where a large human population had 
made animal husbandry more difficult than here, but he recog- 
nized that the experience of the old world would all too soon 
be ours. Guided by a prophetic vision of that which was sure 
to come, he undertook immediately to develop the veterinary 
profession in this country along the lines indicated by scientific 
discoveries. He was anxious to prepare men to safeguard our 
animal population. Dr. Law was an inspiring teacher. He was 
a man of high ideals and a thorough scholar, and he still retains 
a deep interest in all veterinary subjects. He is the "grand old 
man" of the veterinary profession in America and beloved by 
all who knew him. His portrait will serve both as an inspira- 
tion and a benediction to all the generations of veterinarians 
that are to come and to go. 



316 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

WHOM THE GODS CALLED YOUNG 

123. The youngest son of P. D. Armour, founder of the pack- 
ing business of Armour & Co., was Philip D. Armour, Jr., born 
January 11, 1869, at Milwaukee, Wis. In 1875 he came to Chi- 
cago with his family, and received his early education at Phillips 
Andover Academy. From that institution he entered Shefi&eld 
Scientific School at Yale University, being a member of the class 
of 1890. Circumstances prevented his completion of the course, 
and in 1891 he joined Armour and Company to learn the packing 
business from its very foundations. He displayed an unusual 
aptitude backed up by the right sort of energy and aggressiveness. 
The years he spent with the Company were seasons of great 
expansion and development, and formed an important period 
in the history of the house. In some respects the enterprises of 
these days were of a pioneer nature and fitted the younger 
Armour for the big responsibilities and active participation in 
the affairs of the Company, which would necessarily fall to his 
lot. In 1899 the original negotiations were opened to merge the 
Armour Packing Co. of Kansas City with the Chicago plant, and 
the partnership previously effected between P. D. Armour, Sr., 
and J. Ogden Armour was dissolved to form the new corpora- 
tion of Armour and Company. 

Phillip D. Armour, Jr., was scheduled for an important posi- 
tion in the new corporation, but its realization was prevented by 
his untimely death at Montecito, California, January 26, 1900. 
One of the elder employees of Armour and Company, who knew 
him well, characterized him as follows: "He was what we would 
refer to today as a regular fellow; he was a most lovable man 
and easy to get along with; he was as bright as a man could be — 
quick as lightning — and he never knew the meaning of procras- 
tination." 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 317 

A DODDIE DEVOTEE FROM THE PAMPAS 

124. The second judge to come to the International Livestock 
Show from the Argentine was William J. Grant, to officiate in 
the breeding and fat classes of Aberdeen-Angus in 1919. So 
appreciative of his work were the Aberdeen-Angus breeders that 
they requested him immediately upon the completion of his 
duties to make the long journey again, two years later. Mr. 
Grant was a native-born Scot, first opening his eyes to the light 
in February, 1869, in Elgin, a few miles to the south of the 
Moray Firth in Elginshire. His early education was obtained 
in the Elgin Academy, and he was articled, while still a youth 
to Mr. H. M. S. Mackay, a civil engineer of his native town. 
For five years he studied rigorously as a land surveyor and civil 
engineer, and in 1890 proceeded to the Argentine as assistant 
engineer on the construction of the Buenos Aires-Great Southern 
Railway. In 1893 he received appointment as chief district engi- 
neer of the Buenos Aires and Pacific, and eight years later was 
promoted to chief construction engineer. 

In 1903 he purchased 3,750 acres of land and began opera- 
tions as farmer and stock breeder. His interests grew rapidly 
until he was master of 11,000 odd acres, and found his time so 
occupied that in 1908 he resigned his railroad position and 
devoted his entire energies to agriculture. He has developed 
two very excellent herds of cattle, one of Aberdeen-Angus and 
the other of Shorthorn breeding. His Aberdeen-Angus herd con- 
tains 85 pedigreed cows and about 300 purebreds that are unreg- 
istered. The principal families represented are the Mulben May- 
flowers, the Prides of Aberdeen, the Lady Idas, the Beauty's of 
Methlick, the Advie Roses, the Ericas and the Blackbirds. The 
Shorthorn herd is about the same size and comprises about 80 
registered and 400 unregistered animals. Mr. Grant breed* 
very largely on a merit basis and to secure this handles repre- 
sentatives of both Scotch and English strains. The following 



318 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Shorthorn families are represented: The Secrets, the Princess 
Royals, the Venus's, the Butterfly's, the Waterloos, the Roses of 
Sharon, the Rubinas, the Blanches, the Miss Beverleys and the 
Old Daisy's. In addition he handles a Shorthorn grade her-d of 
some 2,000 cows. 

Mr. Grant is one of the pioneer promoters of draft horse 
breeding in this new country, and is developing a small but 
very select stud of Clydesdales. His most famous stallion has 
been the Glamis Castle horse, Monte Carlo, a half brother of 
the noted Cawdor Cup winner, Scotland Yet. 

General agricultural activities of a progressive sort have 
recently claimed much of Mr. Grant's time. During the five 
years, 1909-1914, he was president of the Laboulaye Rural 
Society, and from the beginning of his citizenship in the province 
of Cordoba he has acted as advisor to the local manager of the 
Argentina National Bank on farm loans. Laboulaye is a thriv- 
ing town of 7,000 inhabitants, and Mr. Grant has twice been its 
mayor, four times president of its town council, three years presi- 
dent of its school board, and three years president of its social 
club. Since 1914 he has been president of the board of directors 
of the Rio Negro Land Company, and part owner and managing 
director of the Nueva Escocia Colonization Company. 

In 1901 Mr. Grant married Miss Ellen Gertrude Maguire, 
daughter of an Irish Farmer in the Argentine, Mr. John Maguire, 
and has a family of two boys and two girls. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 319 

A PROPAGANDIST OF PEACE 

125. Possibly the first man to recognize in a practical way the 
utter absence of a divine right to homage was William Penn, 
founder of Pennsylvania, constructive proponent of the Quakers, 
and just administrator of the rights of the American Indian. 
Of aristocratic descent, his sire successively being lieutenant, 
captain, rear-admiral, vice-admiral and admiral of the British 
navy, he found in his collegiate days at Oxford ample oppor- 
tunity to display a rugged plebeianism by opposing what he 
considered to be popish usages, the wearing of student gowns 
and the display of honorary vestments. Thereafter, despite a 
punishment that involved his flight to France, he fought a con- 
tinuous battle w;ithin himself, pitting his sturdy spirit as dis- 
played in his numerous published defenses of the Quakers, 
against the more insidious acceptance of the honors and pastimes 
that were his by heritage and by his wide acquaintance among 
blooded families. A personal friend and ardent supporter of 
Robert Spencer, John Locke, George Fox and Algernon Sid- 
ney, he lived in the favor of Charles II and James II of Eng- 
land, and Louis XIV of France, while his personal courage earned 
him respect in the court of the austere William of Orange. 

William Penn was born October 14, 1644, in London, Eng- 
land. Owing to the sea-faring pursuits of his father, he spent 
his young life under his mother's tutelage, and from her received 
his strong religious faith. Part of his childhood was spent in 
Shenagarry, County Cork, his father's Irish estate. His education 
was thorough, the Oxford foundations being supplemented by 
discipleship under MosES Amyrault, one of France's ablest scho- 
lars, and a member of the Reformed Church. 

His literary talents led to an early recognition of his religious 
convictions. The turning point in his life was reached in Cork, 
Sept. 3, 1667, when in company with the entire congregation he 
was arrested for listening to the Quaker teachings of his old 



320 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

Oxford friend, Thomas Loe. After an open rupture with his 
father he entered upon an itinerant preaching journey, publish- 
ing numerous treatises, of which his "Truth Exalted" and "The 
Sandy Foundation Shaken" gave him a nation-wide notoriety. 
This latter caused an eight months' imprisonment in the Tower 
of London which stimulated his "No Cross, No Crown" and 
"Innocency with Her Open Face," that made him immortal. 

Early in 1668 he enlisted the aid of the Duke of Buckingham 
to introduce a bill into Parliament that would award justice to 
the Quakers, but the stern commoners refused even to listen to 
the measure. In 1670 he was again arrested for preaching in the 
streets, and when the jury found him "Not Guilty" despite the 
court's instructions, both the jury and prisoner were fined and 
jailed for contempt. Appeal to higher authority established the 
precedent for all time in English law that it is the right of the 
jury independently to judge evidence regardless of the dictation 
or direction of the court. 

On liberation Penn visited Holland and Germany where he 
made many converts, but it was not until 1681 when Charles H 
issued the charter that confirmed his title to American lands, 
that he found a home for the persecuted of his faith. Penn's 
original title for the territory was New Wales, but, on objection 
by the King, he adopted Sylvania, which the King overruled to 
christen Pennsylvania. Organizations for emigration were estab- 
lished, and with the aid of Algernon Sidney, a liberal scheme 
of laws and government approved. In September, 1682, he 
sailed for Newcastle on the Delaware, on board the tiny "Wel- 
come," and selected the site of his capital at the juncture 
of the Schuylkill and Delaware, a place called by the 
Indians, "Coaquannoc," and by him Philadelphia. Under the 
spreading elm at Schackamaxton (now part of Philadelphia), 
he concluded, his famous treaty with the Indians, which recog- 
nized them as previously the rightful owners of the land. Penn's 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 321 

far-sighted generosity contributed to peace with all the adjacent 
tribes and alone of all the colonies, Pennsylvania suffered no 
massacres and indulged in no warfare. In 1684, disputes with 
Lord Baltimore over the boundry line with Maryland, discus- 
sions that ultimately caused the survey of the Mason-Dixon line, 
sent both Penn and Baltimore to England, and Penn became 
involved in the turmoil of the deposition of James II. In 1690 
he was publicly proclaimed a traitor, and deprived of his Ameri- 
can property, but after three years hiding, it was restored. In 
1699 he returned to America, cementing the split in his colony 
between the warlike and Quaker parties. Two years later he 
sailed for England, disturbed by the report that proprietary 
colonies were to be abolished, but the move was thwarted. Affairs 
in Ireland claimed his attention, and he was defrauded by 
unscrupulous bookkeeping of much of his property. In 1712 a 
paralytic stroke impaired his mind, and after six years of faithful 
care by his second wife, he passed away at Ruscombe, Berkshire, 
July 30, 1718. 

As a founder of American civilization and democracy, Wil- 
liam Penn contributed much. While his doctrines of non-resist- 
ance have been used for selfish purposes many times in the 
intervening years, his recognition of the rights of the savage, his 
careful preparation of a liberal government, and his refuge for 
numerous of the harassed religious thinkers of Europe estab- 
lished precedents from which the American nation has never 
departed in principle. The liberality of his viewpoints has been 
reflected through the centuries that have succeeded him, and to 
his example may be traced the development of freedom of thought 
and action in the national commonwealth. 



322 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A CONTRIBUTION OF CATTLE WEALTH TO THE 
SUNFLOWER STATE 

126. John Ross Tomson, breeder of Shorthorn cattle and 
president of the American Shorthorn Breeders' Association 1918- 
19, was born near Dover, Kansas, October 3, 1867. Of cattle 
forebears, he was early initiated into the business, riding as 
drover and buyer with his father at the early age of eight and 
nine years over a radius of thirty miles from his home. His 
aptness coupled with his extreme youth attracted much atten- 
tion among the hardened veterans of the cattle range, and gained 
him a reputation that made him the natural head of the business 
when his father and brothers entered into purebred Shorthorn 
production in 1886. At this time he had finished his common 
school education and a course in a business college in Topeka, 
so that the $80 cow then purchased provided his real start in 
breeding. 

The firm thus launched to the breeding world was known as 
T. K. Tomson & Sons, the father, John, "Jim," and Frank 
composing the partnership. For ten successive years a show 
herd was on the western and southwestern circuit, and it is 
believed the record shows not a year passed without a champion- 
ship ribbon being awarded some member of the herd at one of 
the fairs. While the circuit is no longer followed throughout, 
the Tomson cattle are still frequent winners. Ever since the late 
nineties the females of the herd have been particularly rcognized 
as true to a type, the best ones being retained regularly for 
breeding purposes. A party of Uraguay breeders visiting Amer- 
ican herds in 1919 pronounced the ToMSON females to be the 
best selected and most uniform they saw. Operations have been 
conducted almost entirely on a private sale basis, very few pub- 
lic auctions having been held. Hence no widely advertised fig- 
ures have been announced although the financial results have been 
eminently satisfactory, and the products of the herd sought both 
by the east and west for purposes of foundation and improvement. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 323 

In 1909 the death of T. K. Tomson caused, a change in the 
method of breeding. For several years prior to this the father 
had left the active direction of the business to the two sons, John 
and James, and on his demise John succeeded as head of the 
firm with headquarters on the old farmstead adjoining Dover. 
James and Frank purchased a new acreage along the line of the 
Santa Fe Railroad between Wakarusa and Carbondale, Kansas. 
Here marketing facilities were better as Dover was nine miles 
from the nearest railroad, the Rock Island, and twenty miles 
from a marketing town, Topeka. The partnership was still main- 
tained, but each brother's interest was held separately. Under 
John Tomson's skillful management some of the grassiest pas- 
tures of eastern Kansas have been developed at the Dover farm, 
while excellent modern improvements have been installed 
throughout. 

John Tomson enjoys a wide reputation as a judge both of 
steers and breeding cattle. His ability in this particular was 
instinctively inherent, but was sharpened by the years of cattle 
buying as a youth, stirrup to stirrup with his father. Among 
Kansas breeders he enjoys a position of highest authority, while 
his counsels have been sought by Shorthorn breeders the country 
over. He is of a naturally retiring and diffident disposition, but 
his whole inclination is to care in an unassuming way for the 
interests of others long before looking to his own. He never 
volunteers advice, but his aid is freely given for the asking. 
Straightforward and sincere, his whole life has been free of 
sham and pretense, and more than one of his friends has affec- 
tionately admitted that the mould was thrown away after John 
Tomson was fashioned. 

For six successive terms Mr. Tomson was unanimously elected 
a director of the Shorthorn association, while his presidency in 
1918 and 1919 recognized temporarily an appreciation of his 
judgment and counsel, not terminated with his close of office, 
but continued by his retention on the board of directors. 



324 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

A VETERAN EDUCATOR IN VETERINARY MEDICINE 

127. Paralleling Dr. James Law (122) in the pioneer nature 
of his service in the field of veterinary education was Dr. H. J. 
Detmers, founder of the College of Veterinary Medicine of the 
Ohio State University. Dr. Detmers was of German nativity, 
having been born in the province of Oldenburg, in April, 1835. 
His education was received in the leading universities of Europe, 
both at Hanover and Berlin, where he pursued agricultural and 
veterinary courses. In the late sixties he came to America and 
at once became a naturalized citizen. 

His first duties of an official nature in America were in con- 
nection with the Commissioner of Agriculture of the United 
States (the forerunner of the present federal Department of Agri- 
culture), with whom he studied the causes of the then recently 
introduced cattle plague, contagious pleuro-pneumonia. In coop- 
eration with Dr. Law, Dr. Billings and Dr. Salmon (33) means 
for its eradication were proposed and successfully executed. 

When the new Bureau of Animal Industry was formed under 
the control of Dr. Salmon, Dr. Detmers was retained as an 
investigator of hog cholera and other infectious animal diseases. 
At that time the science of bacteriology was in its infancy, and 
Dr. Detmers attracted wide attention through his use of this 
science to attack the cause of hog cholera. His work in this 
particular direction still stands as classic. Dr. Detmers suc- 
ceeded in isolating and cultivating an organism in beef broth 
which he believed to be the cause of hog cholera, or as he called 
it, swine plague. At the time that he was doing this Dr. Salmon 
(33) isolated another organism which he believed to be the cause 
of cholera and for many years there existed a strong rivalry 
between the two scientists for the honor of prior discovery of the 
organism. As a result two distinct swine diseases were popu- 
larly recognized for a long time under the respective names of 
swine plague and hog cholera, but Dr. Detmers was never willing 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 325 

to accept this dual view. When Dr. Dorset (30) discovered the 
filterable virus that is now recognized as the cause of the disease, 
Dr. Detmers was vindicated in regard to the identity of the two 
diseases, even though his belief as to the cause had to be dis- 
carded. 

The tenacity, with which Dr. Detmers clung to his explana- 
tion of his discovery, was a fair measure of his character. He 
knew that he was right, as far as his experience went, and he 
defended his position to the best of his ability against both friend 
and foe, and he encountered both. As a matter of fact Dr. Det- 
mers knew only two kinds of people, friends or foes, and with 
each class he went to the limit. For his friends he knew no sac- 
rifice too great, for his foes no resistance too strong. 

On completing his work with the Federal Government he was 
successively professor of veterinary science at the Iowa Agri- 
cultural College, The University of Missouri, The Kansas State 
Agricultural College, and the University of Illinois. In 1884 
he was called to the Ohio State University where he founded the 
college of veterinary medicine. At the same time he acted as 
veterinarian of the Ohio Experiment Station at Wooster, and 
there labored without relief on a system of protective innocula- 
tion against the swine plague. In all of his activities during his 
long public life as a teacher, and his retired life as an investi- 
gator, he worked unceasingly for the development of his chosen 
profession. His former students were all his personal friends 
in whom he took a fraternal interest and a personal pride. In 
November, 1906, at the age of seventy-one years, he passed away 
at Columbus, Ohio. Very few of the veterinarians and agricul- 
turists of today were acquainted with Dr. Detmers, but those 
who possess this privilege need no further appreciation of his 
worth and quality. 



326 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

"THE WHITE HEIFER THAT TRAVELED" 

128. In the first years of the 19th century, Robert Colling 
(94) did much to promote the newly founded race of Short- 
horns by sending out his finest beeves for exhibition through- 
out the principal agricultural districts. The most noteworthy 
of these was the free martin heifer by Favorite (252) from a 
dam called Favorite Cow. The exact date of her birth is not 
recorded in the Coates Herd Book but it is presumed that she 
was dropped about 1806. Because of her handicap for breed- 
ing she was fed out to her utmost capacity and for several years 
was publicly exhibited. It is not known at what age she was 
slaughtered, but her dead weight was estimated at 1,820 pounds, 
which certainly required a live weight during her best years of 
above 2,300 pounds. It was through the exhibition of such 
animals as the "White Heifer that Traveled" that the Colling 
Brothers established the firm trade demand for the foundation 
animals of the then new Shorthorn breed. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 327 

THE KETTON OX 

129. The Ketton Ox was later known as the Durham Ox (133) 
and is so described in this catalog. The painting of which this 
is a copy was made of him at five years of age, whereas the 
painting entitled the "Durham Ox" was made later in life afte* 
he had achieved an exhibition record under the management ol 
Mr. Day. 



MAXWALTON COMMANDER 

130. Maxwalton Commander 406947, was grand champion 
bull at the 1917 International. Among the last of the illus- 
trious calves sired by the far-famed Avondale 245144, he com- 
manded a value and a breed respect almost from calfhood. He 
was dropped September 28, 1913, at Maxwalton Farms from 
the imported cow Roan Lady 36th, by Nonpareil Crown. 
Immediately following his championship he was purchased at 
the phenomenal price of $7,500 by F. A. Gillespie & Sons, 
Tulsa, Okla., and at the dispersion of this herd in December, 
1918, was acquired by H. C. LoOKABAUGH, Pleasant Valley 
Farm, Watonga, Okla. Here he is successor to the famous Fair 
Acres Sultan and the entire story of his service to the Shorthorn 
breed can be written only when the next decade has gone by. 



328 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

PINK BRILLANTE 

131. Pink Brillante 57897, was champion Percheron mare at 
the 1916 International. Although foaled in 1908, she never 
had but one year in the showring, her entry being somewhat 
fortuitous due to the accidental death of her 1916 foal at about 
two months of age. She was sent to the Iowa State Fair, where 
A. S. Robinson placed her first in spite of her thinness, facing 
severe ringside dissent. His judgment was confirmed by her 
International winning and she is now considered the best bal- 
anced big mare that ever won a Percheron championship. She 
was bred by Dunham's, Wayne, 111., and has proved a most fer- 
tile and regular breeder. Although only a three-year-old, she 
dropped her first colt in 1911 and one each year thereafter 
through 1919. She failed to rear her 1916 and 1917 colts, both 
of them dying young. Pink Brillante has a longer pre-show 
record as a breeder than any other premier mare at the Inter- 
national. 

Her sire, Pink, was International champion stallion in 1903 
and 1904, and was second in the aged stallion classes of 1905 
and 1906 in spite of heavy stud use. He was a grandson of 
Besigue, by Brilliant 3rd, and traced into the unsurpassed Per- 
cheron strain of Brilliants. His dam Odelisque was by Bien- 
ville, one of the best grandsons of Brilliant, he by Voltaire, the 
best son of Brilliant 1271. Pink Brillante's dam Briennette 
also traced to Brilliant 1271, her grandsire through her dam 
Brienne. 

Pink Brillante stood 17:3 hands and weighed 2,300 pounds 
as champion. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 329 

EARL SPENCER'S OX 

132. The champion at the Smithfield Fat Stock Show in 1835 
was a white ox of Shorthorn blood shown by Lord Althorpe, 
Earl Spencer. He was got by the bull Firby, owned by the 
Earl and was fed at the farm at Wiseton, near Doncaster. Earl 
Spencer was prominent in politics at one time, being Chan- 
cellor of the Exchequer. He was unable, therefore, to devote 
full attention to his breeding operations, but nevertheless 
accumulated the largest herd of the .day in England. He was 
early tutored from the lips of Thomas Bates (74) but after a 
large degree of assistance in selecting early breeding stock and 
through leasing some of the early Duchess bulls, he fell into 
disfavor with his worthy mentor through attempting to hire 
Bates' herdsman, the historic Robert Bell. Earl Spencer fol- 
lowed the inbreeding systems called into vogue by Bakewell 
and the Colling brothers, but is reputed to have ruined the con- 
stitution of his stock. The authenticity of this is questionable, 
since at the 4ispersion of his herd in the early 40's, high prices 
were attained; one bull brought $2,000, another one $1,850, and 
several of the cows realized over $1,000. Although in the serv- 
ice of his country, Earl Spencer's heart was always in his 
Shorthorns. When John Grey of Dilston called on the Earl 
at the Government offices in London, the attendants slyly whis- 
pered, "Ye've come about cows, Sir, so ye'll no' have long to 
wait." He was the greatest promoter and distributor of the 
breed in his day, and is credited with having established the 
Shorthorn with the nobility of Britain. 



330 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

THE DURHAM OX 

133. The ultimate test of excellence in beef breeding is the 
block and so it was that the Durham Ox, (the second calf sired 
by Mr. Charles Colling's (94) first triumph in pedigrees, the 
bull Favorite), was steered and grown out for exhibition as a 
bullock. He was dropped in 1796 out of a native black and 
white cow, purchased at Durham Fair. Plied with feed bucket 
and choicest pasture until five years of age, he attained the nota- 
ble weight of 3,024 pounds. At this point he left Mr, Colling's 
hands, being purchased in February, 1801, for $700 by a Mr. 
BuLMER of Harnby. Bulmer had a special carriage built to 
transport him and after five weeks' exhibition sold both ox and 
carriage to Mr. John Day of Rotherham for $1,250. Within 
seven weeks Mr. Day refused $2,625 for him, a month later he 
refused $5,000, and two months later $10,000. For nearly six 
years this notable animal was carried through the principal 
sections of England and Scotland, until in February, 1807, he 
dislocated his hip bone. Due to his extreme flesh and his 
advanced age of eleven years, it was impossible to reset it and 
after eight weeks of further travel during which he shrunk con- 
siderably in weight, he was slaughtered. His dressed weight 
totaled 2,620 pounds, 2,322 pounds of which was found in the 
four carcass quarters. This placed his liveweight at over 3,000 
pounds while Mr. Day announced his weight at ten years as 
3,400 pounds. Prior to this time such exhibitions of beef mass 
with thick joints and deeply bedded ribs were unknown, and a 
great debt is due the Colling brothers by the Shorthorn fra- 
ternity for such an early demonstration of beef making ability. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 331 

BRACELET AND NECKLACE 

134. In 1840 John Booth of Killerby won first prize at the 
Yorkshire Show at Northallerton with the roan three-year-old 
heifer Bracelet, one of the first heifers of twin birth in the 
Shorthorn breed to establish a noteworthy show record. Brace- 
let sought stronger competitions the following year and in 1841 
won first as an aged cow, both at the Royal at Liverpool and at 
the Highland and Agricultural Society Show at Berwick. The 
following year she and her twin sister swept the boards at York, 
but Bracelet was defeated by Necklace at the Bristol Royal. In 
1843 Necklace was again the premier cow of the pair, winning 
first prize at Doncaster. These twins won over thirty-five class 
and championship honors. Necklace closed her showyard life 
by winning the gold medal against thirty-seven contestants at 
the Smithfield Show in 1846, this time being exhibited as a 
butcher's animal. It was as a breeder that Bracelet particularly 
surpassed her noted twin. Her most noteworthy offspring was 
the bull Buckingham (3239) that proved an exceptional sire in 
the herd of Richard Booth at Warlaby. A show bull of 
importance produced by Bracelet was the good Hamlet by 
Leonard, while her calf of 1842, the red bull Morning Star, 
was sold as a two-year-old to Louis Phillipe of France. Brace- 
let's most noted slaughter was the white show cow Birthday by 
Lord Stanley (4269). Birthday herself was a famous breeder 
an4 through her son, Lord George (10439), and his son. Second 
Duke of Athol (11376), became incorporated into the pedigrees 
of the famous Woodburn Duchesses of Airdrie (82). 



332 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

LORD BANFF 

135. The dark roan bull Lord Banff 150178 (77031), was 
calved in Scotland January 10, 1899, having been bred by Alex 
Watson, of Aberdeenshire. As a yearling he was imported to 
the Trout Creek herd of W. D. Flatt, Hamilton, Ontario. His 
sire was the good Scotch bull Cap-a-Pie 106717, and his dam 
was Roan Bessie by Sittyton Sort. After a very mild showyard 
career he was sold in Mr. Flatt's November sale in 1901, at 
the Union Stock Yards, for $5,100 to Mr. George E. Ward, 
Hawarden, Iowa, to replace St. Valentine. At that time this 
established the record price for Scotch bulls. Here he had but 
little opportunity as a sire, but was shown in some of the Mis- 
souri Valley exhibitions. His later years were spent in the 
herd of M. E. Jones & Son, Williamsville, HI., where he left a 
type imprint noticeable even to this day. Lord Banff was a 
bull of magnificent symmetry and his high valuation did much 
to elicit confidence in Scotch bloodlines 4uring the increasing 
agricultural values at the first of the 20th century. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 333 

ST. VALENTINE 

136. Reputed to be the smoothest bull ever shown in Ameri- 
can livestock exhibitions, the roan St. Valentine 121014, was a 
prominent figure in the closing Shorthorn contests of the last 
century. His breeder was the firm of James Gardhouse & Sons, 
Highfield, Ontario, but he was calved the property of J. G. Rob- 
bins & Sons, Horace, Indiana, February 14, 1894. His sire was 
Guardsman 108200, and his dam was of the Verbena family, 
the imported Verbena's Lady, volume 39, page 682E. St. Valen- 
tine's showyard career started early under the efficient herdsman- 
ship of the ROBBINS. His opportunities as a sire were excellent 
and he sired two of the most famous show animals of the early 
century, the grand champion bull of the 1900 International, The 
Lad for Me, and the noteworthy female Ruberta (140). At the 
same International the first prize young herd was entirely the 
product of his loins. In 1898 at the Trans-Mississippi Exhibi- 
tion at Omaha, he headed the first prize herd and, shortly after 
was transferred to the ownership of George E. Ward, Hawarden, 
Iowa. His untimely death in the spring of 1901 cut short a 
most promising breeding opportunity. At Mr. Ward's sale in 
Chicago that year, cow prices reached averages hitherto uncom- 
mon, forty-four head making $725, ten cows selling at between 
$1,000 and $2,500. Since most of the cows were in calf to St. 
Valentine there is no doubt that the chief cause of the high values 
was the last opportunity to buy calves by this noted sire. 



334 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

AN OVINE PASTORAL 

137. This study of French sheep, probably grade fine-wools, 
was purchased by Nelson Morris (71) on the occasion of a trip 
abroad, and presented to the Saddle and Sirloin Club. It is a 
faithful representation of the class of sheep common to French 
farms, the fidelity of detail as related to conformation and char- 
acter being most unusual. 



WHITEHALL MARSHAL 

138. Whitehall Marshal 209776, was the leading showyard 
representative of the great collection of Shorthorn prize winners, 
sired by the bull Whitehall Sultan 163573. He was a roan bull 
calved October 5th, 1902, bred by E. S. Kelly, Yellow Springs, 
Ohio. His dam was the imported Missie 167th by Lord of Fame 
157722. Whitehall Marshal's career in the showring extended 
over a period of five years, during all of which time he was per- 
forming extensive herd service. As a senior yearling in the 1904 
International he was second prize, but in 1905 he was first prize 
two-year-old and in 1906 and 1907 headed the aged bull classes. 
In 1908 after his transfer to the Elmendorf Farm, Lexington, 
Kentucky, he was placed third, but the same year won fourth 
on his get. His greatest service was in the herd of F. W. Hard- 
ing, (108) Waukesha, Wis., at Anoka Farm. Here he sired many 
notable showyard winners, mostly bulls. The best known was 
Leader of Fashion, for several years in service in the Anoka herd. 
After transfer to the Elmendorf pastures he begot the excellent 
Fayette Marshal, that made notable show records in 1911-12-13. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 335 

DRAFT CHAMPIONS OF THE TANBARK 

139. The six horse team contests at the International Livestock 
Expositions have proved to be the most popular feature of the 
draft horse display. In general the best teams have come from 
Packington, only four winners having originated elsewhere. The 
two breeds that have produced the winning hitches are the Clydes- 
dale and Percheron, the former having won the honors twelve 
times at the close of 1919, the latter six times. The winners by 
years follow: 

1900 Moore— Clydesdale 1910 Morris— Clydesdale 

1901 Morris— Clydesdale 1911 Morris— Clydesdale 

1902 Morris— Clydesdale 1912 Crouch— Percheron 

1903 Morris— Clydesdale 1913 U. S. Yards— Clydesdale 

1904 Pabst— Percheron 1914 No Show 

1905 Armour — Percheron 1915 No Show 

1906 Armour — Percheron 1916 Crouch — Percheron 

1907 Armour — Percheron 1917 Wilson — Clydesdale 

1908 Morris— Clydesdale 1913 Wilson— Clydesdale 

1909 Morris— Clydesdale 1919 Wilson— Clydesdale 

The team portrayed here is the Morris 1909 winner. Morris 
& Co., for a number of years, were vitally interested in this 
exhibit, their champions of 1901-03 being, with a single modifi- 
cation, the original imported geldings shown by Moore, for 
which they paid the then great sum of $3,000. Their second 
notable team, the one depicted in this painting, was collected by 
Mr. a. B. McLaren, who for twenty years supervised Morris & 
Co.'s draft horse transportation. 



336 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

THE WORLD CHAMPION RUBERTA 

140. At the Hlinois State Fair of 1901, one of the strongest 
an4 most noteworthy competitions' yet developed in Scotch 
bloodlines was staged. Something of an international character 
was attached to this contest, as the American-bred Ruberta, win- 
ner of the two-year-old class, met the imported Cicely, winner of 
the aged class, for championship. Cicely had been bred by Her 
Majesty the Queen in her Windsor herd and was a champion 
of the English Royal. As Cicely was Canadian owned thereby 
making the contest international, it was deemed advisable to 
bring in the veteran Hereford breeder, Thomas Clark, as adjudi- 
cator. His decision was awaited with most profound interest by 
the attending ringside and when the purple ribbon was finally 
given to Ruberta, the clearest title to American championship 
ever held by a showyard queen was conferred. This title was 
successfully defended over a series of years. Ruberta was a 
roan heifer, calved October 14, 1898. Bred by J. G. Robbins & 
Sons, Horace, Indiana, she early acquired showyard fame, being 
junior champion as a yearling at the first American Royal Show 
and at the first International. Her 1901 victory made her almost 
invincible in American Showyards, a position she held through 
the notable Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Ruberta 
was sired by the famous St. Valentine, (136) head of the first 
prize Shorthorn herd at the Omaha Exposition of 1898. Her 
dam was Russella, volume 44, page 854, by Czar 107007, tracing 
to the twelfth Duchess of Gloster. Ruberta's career in the breed- 
ing herd was almost as noteworthy as her showyard record. She 
is the only cow in the Shorthorn breed that has been an Inter- 
national champion and the dam of a champion. Her son, 
Ruberta's Goods, won the junior ribbon at the American Royal. 
In spite of the high flesh in which she was necessarily maintained 
she produced six calves, and was a regular and certain breeder 
throughout her life. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 337 

THE HERDSMAN'S GOD 

141. In Greek and Roman mythology, Hermes was the God 
of the Wind, and hence of the dwellers of open places. He was 
born, full fledged, the son of Zeus and Maia, in a cave on Mount 
Cyllene in Arcadia. Immediately after birth he stole forth from 
the cave and siezed the cattle of Apollo, the sun-god, dragging 
them back to his cave. He stoutly denied the theft, even to the 
mighty Zeus (Jove or Jupiter of the Romans), and when con- 
victed, pacified his brother with a lyre he had fortunately devised 
from a tortoise shell on which only the dried sinews remained. 
He was the herdsman's god, especially invoked to secure 
increase in fold and paddock, and the ram and calf were asso- 
ciated in the worship of him. He was the deity of good luck, 
sharp trade, and "windfalls," and later became the patron of 
the cattle thieves. Hermes was sublimely swift, wearer of winged 
sandals, bearer of a magic wand (later the Caduceus), and guide 
of the souls that seek Charon to cross the River Styx. He was 
the spirit of the open road and the flowing sail. Along the 
highways square pillars (Hermae) guided the traveller, with the 
head of the god and the phallus as decorative features. The 
sailor invoked his aid to bring the precious trade winds or to still 
the obstreperous blast. To the Romans he was Mercury; to the 
Egyptians, Thoth, to the Phoenicians Taaut; and to the Babylo- 
nians, Nabu. From his fabled fleetness both the twinkling red 
of the planet Mercury and the fluid activity of quicksilver at 
ordinary temperatures drew their names. 

142. Bust of John Sherman. 



338 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

THE WINGED VICTORY 

143. The statue of "The Victory of Samothrace" or "Winged 
Victory" as it is popularly called, was executed by Demetrius 
PoLiORCETES, after the naval battle of Salamis in Cyprus, 306 
B. C, to commemorate the Greek victory over the fleet of 
Ptolemy of Egypt. It was set up in 305 B. C, and rediscovered 
in the Island by French archaeologists working there in 1863. 
It is now on exhibit in the Louvre. The suggestion of pride 
and action in the pose of the body, particularly the limbs, has 
never been equalled by subsequent sculptors. The artistry of 
that part of the statue remaining has excited endless apprecia- 
tion from critics and sculptors in general, since all attempts at 
restoration of the lost portions have proved to be entirely incon- 
gruous. 



FYVIE BARON 

144. Fyvie Baron 17608 was international grand champion 
Clydesdale stallion in 1913. He was a first prize winner in the 
aged stallions at the Highland and Agricultural Show the same 
year, having been imported by Graham Bros., Claremount, Onta- 
rio. He shared premier honors with Golden Knight as head of 
the large stud of Conyngham Bros., Wilkesbarre, Pa. Fyvie 
Baron was foaled March 8, 1907. His sire was the world 
renowned Baron's Pride (9122) and his dam was Lady Ida 
(15438). Fyvie Baron draws strongly on the Darnley founda- 
tion, tracing three times to him and once to Prince of Wales 
through Lady Ida, in addition to tracing through Baron's Pride. 
Fyvie Baron also traces twice to Sir Everard, the latter being 
his grandsire, through Baron's Pride, and his great grandsire 
in the female line through Lady Ida and her dam Lady Maud. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 339 

FAIRHOLME FOOTPRINT 

145. Fairholme Footprint 17584, was foaled June 23, 1913, 
the property of Mr. Robert A. Fairbairn, Fairholme Farm, 
New Market, N. J. He is the American culmination of the famous 
line of Clydesdale sires, descending from Darnley (see Andrew 
Montgomery, 46) the most skillful bit of pedigree blending the 
breeding art has yet known. Conceived to the service of the 
1910 Cawdor Cup winner, Dunure Footprint, he was imported 
in dam, Harviestoun Baroness (146) in the late summer of 1912. 
In April, 1914, he was sol4 to F. Lothrop Ames, Langwater 
Farms, Northeaston, Mass., for $5,000, thereby setting a world's 
price record at the time for a colt of his age. He was first shown 
at the International of 1916, where he was first prize three-year- 
old Clydesdale stallion and grand champion of his breed, but on 
his reappearance in 1918, he not only headed the aged Clydesdale 
stallion class and was again grand, champion, but he showed four 
yearling daughters that stood first, second, third and fourth in 
the futurity class. These four won the get of sire class for him 
and three of them with himself at the head won first for breeder's 
group of stallion and three mares. Only once in American his- 
tory has such a performance been approached, at the World's 
Columbian Exposition of 1893, when McQueen and daughters 
performed similarly, but won over all breeds. In 1919 he again 
won supreme breed honors at the International Livestock Expo- 
sition while his two-year-old daughter, Langwater Jessica was 
junior and reserve grand champion female. 

His sire, Dunure Footprint, is the most famous breeding horse 
in Scotland and the leading sire of showyard winners. An offer 
of S130,000 was refused for him, marking the record valuation 
of a draft stallion. At the 1919 Glasgow Stallion Show he sired 
six of the twenty-three yearling stallions displayed, they winning 
second, third, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth respectively. Of 
these three were sold at auction, the second prize at $20,000, 



340 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 

the third prize at $15,000, and ttie fourth prize at $10,000. 
Dunure Footprint's 1919 service fee was $500 with upwards of 
300 bookings. This earning capacity more than justifies the 
valuation. 

Dunure Footprint was sired by Baron o' Buchlyvie (11263). 
This horse was the most famous son of Baron's Pride and the 
only horse consistently to beat Baron's Pride as a sire of show- 
yard winners and breeding animals. Baron o' Buchlyvie held 
this proud distinction in Scotland until beaten by his own son, 
Dunure Footprint. He was sold at public auction in 1911 to 
settle a partnership, bringing $47,500, a price for a draft horse 
never excelled. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 341 

HARVIESTOUN BARONESS 

146. Harviestoun Baroness 16886, is the best known imported 
Clydesdale mare of recent years. Foaled May 21, 1906, the 
property of J. Ernest Kerr, Harviestoun Castle, Dollar, Scot- 
land, she developed slowly but soundly until in 1912, at six 
years of age, she won the Cawdor Cup at the Highland an4 
Agricultural Show. She was sired by the never-to-be-forgotten 
Baron's Pride and out of one of Mr. Kerr's most notable brood 
mares, Ambrosine (17817) dam of a long list of Scottish win- 
ners. Following the Highland Show, she was sent to the service 
of Wm. Dunlop's 1910 Cawdor Cup winner, Dunure Footprint, 
and in late summer was exported to the United States to Mr. R. A. 
Fairbairn, Fairholme Farms, New Market, N. J. That fall she 
won an easy championship at the International and the following 
June dropped the notable Fairholme Footprint (125). Again in 
1913 and 1916 she returned to the International to capture the 
grand championship each time. In 1917 she gave birth to a 
capital youngster by Golden Knight. The dam of five colts, her 
breeding career was cut short when she met with an accidental 
death in the spring of 1918. As a brood and show mare she is 
entirely unparalleled in recent years. 



542 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



DRAGON 



147. Dragon 52155, was the younger of the famous pair of 
stallions from the mare Resida that achieved International grand 
championship in 1906 and 1907. Foaled in 1904 and imported 
in 1906 by McLaughlin Brothers of Columbus, Ohio, he early 
became a prominent figure in American equine circles. As a 
two-year-old he headed his class at the 1906 International and 
was reserve champion to his famous brother Etra-degant. The 
following year he returned as a three-year-old, attaining breed 
championship. Following his 1906 winning, he was sold to 
Mr. John A, Spoor, being sent to his Blythwood farm at Pitts- 
field, Mass. However, in September, 1907, he was re-transferred 
to McLaughlin Brothers, who again showed him at the Interna- 
tional. In December, 1909, he came into the possession of 
Governor H. C. Stuart, of Elk Garden, Virginia. Here he 
remained for two years but during the entire period from the 
time of his importation until 1911, he had no opportunity to 
mate with purebred mares and for five years not a colt was 
registered from him. In April, 1911, Senator E. B. White, 
Leesburg, Virginia, purchased him to replace the champion Etu- 
diant. that had headed Selma Farm stud since 1908. Selma 
Farm furnished Dragon opportunity to display his real merit as 
a sire, and, at the 1913 International, he was second to the 
invincible Carnot on get of sire and at the 1916 International was 
third. Many of his sons and daughters were first prize or cham- 
pions at the eastern fairs and one of his daughters headed the 
yearling futurity class at the International. 

Dragon was not a large horse, standing about 16:3 and weigh- 
ing 1,900 pounds. His type was rare and his stamp on his pro- 
geny uniform. His death in May, 1917, cut all too short a life, 
whose first five years were lost from the standpoint of con- 
structive breeding. 



OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 343 

Dragon was sired by Kronstadt (44910), he by Lycene 21630, 
and he by Cocardos 16919. This latter horse was first prize 
three-year-old at the World's Columbian Exposition, but was 
sold from pillar to post following that period, being acquired 
by W. S. CoRSA in 1901. He begot extraordinarily good colts, 
but was used only on grade mares. Kronstadt's dam was by 
the notable Villers, imported by Mr. Dunham, and bought back 
by him after seven years of use on grade mares in Wisconsin. 
Villers was surpassed as a sire previous to 1900 only by Bril- 
liant 3rd and Besigue. Dragon's dam Resida was generally 
considered to be the best brood mare of her time in France and 
perhaps of the breed of all time. She not only produced two 
International grand champions already referred to, but also 
another stallion of tremendous importance to American breed- 
ing, the horse Hisse Haut, head of the Robison Stud, Pekin, 111. 



NUMERICAL INDEX 



1 Dr. Leonard G. Pearson 

2 Dr. John Gunion Rutherford 

3 William Ransdell Goodwin 

4 Hon. W. I. Buchanan 

5 Henry Jackson Waters 

6 Robert Burns Ogilvie 

7 William Dempster Hoard 

8 Dr. G. Howard Davison 

9 Hon. Duncan McLean Marshall 

10 Hon. Henry Fairfax 

11 John Harrison Skinner 

12 Alvin Howard Sanders 

13 Foster Dwight Coburn 

14 Hon. John Dryden 

15 Hon. James Wilson 

16 J. Sterling Morton 

17 Dr. Henry Baird Favill 

18 Gen. Jeremiah McLain Rusk 

19 Senator William Freeman Vilas 

20 William Arnon Henry 

21 James Harvey Sanders 

22 Robert B. Thomson 

23 Stephen Moulton Babcock 

24 John A. Craig 

25 Hon. Henry CuUen Adams 

26 Charles F. Curtiss 

27 William Henry Hatch 

28 Hon. Justin S. Morrill 

29 Dean Eugene Davenport 

30 Dr. Marion Dorset 

31 Charles E. Duggan 

32 William Levi Carlyle 

33 Dr. Daniel Elmer Salmon 

34 Dr. Alonzo D. Melvin 

35 Dr. John Robbins Mohler 

36 Joseph Edward Guinane Ryan 

37 Samuel Cozzens 

38 Monson Parker Buel 

39 William E. Skinner 

40 Mortimer Levering 

41 Jonathan Hall Truman 

42 James Crouch 

43 Mark Wentworth Dunham 



44 Col. Robert Holloway 

45 Nehemiah Parker Clarke 

46 Andrew Montgomery 

47 Capt. Frederick Pabst 

48 Col. John Sidney Cooper 

49 Murdo Mackenzie 

50 John R. Francis 

51 Joseph Rosenbaum 

52 The "Roundup" 

53 Conrad Kohrs 

54 Louis Keefer 

55 Andrew Lovejoy 

56 Chas. H. Ingwersen 

57 Henry C. Ingwersen 

58 T. B. Hord 

59 Blanford R. Pierce 

60 William S. Van Natta 

61 Thomas Clark 

62 Gustavus Franklin Swift 

63 Edward Tilden 

64 Arthur G. Leonard 

65 Benjamin Peters Hutchinson 

66 John Sherman 

67 Samuel Waters AUerton, Jr. 

68 James B. Haggin 

69 J. Ogden Armour 

70 Philip Danforth Armour 

71 Nelson Morris 

72 Edward Morris 

73 Thomas Edward Wilson 

74 Thomas Bates 

75 Abraham Lincoln 

76 Thomas Booth 

77 Ulysses S. Grant 

78 Robert Bakewell 

79 Daniel Webster 

80 Capt. Barclay 

81 Sir Walter Gilbey 

82 Robert A. Alexander 

83 William Wetherell 

84 William Torr 

85 T. C. Booth 

86 General George Washington 



NUMERICAL INDEX— Continued 



87 Jonas Webb 

88 Thomas Jefferson 

89 Amos Cruickshank 

90 Alexander Hamilton 

91 John Marshall 

92 Felix Renick 

93 Benjamin Franklin 

94 Charles and Robert Colling 

95 J. Henry Pickrell 

96 Louis F. Allen 

97 Emery Cobb 

98 Benjamin F. Van Meter 

99 James N. Brown 

100 John D. Gillett 

101 Isaac Funk 

102 John Bunn 

103 Lafayette Funk 

104 James W. Judy 

105 Henry F. Brown 

106 Reid Carpenter 

107 Charles E. Leonard 

108 Frank W. Harding 

109 Col. William A. Harris 

110 James Brown 

111 N. H. Gentry 

112 S. F. Lockridge 

113 Richard Gibson 

114 John Miller 

115 George Harding 

116 William Miller 

117 James Ironside Davidson 



118 John W. Groves 

119 J. Frank Prather 

120 George Purdy Bellows 

121 George Edgar Martin 

122 Dr. James Law 

123 Philip D. Armour, Jr. 

124 William J. Grant 

125 William Penn 

126 John Ross Tomson 

127 Detmers, Dr. H. J. 

128 White Heifer that Traveled 

129 Ketton Ox 

130 Maxwalton Commander 

131 Pink Brillante 

132 Spencer Ox 

133 Durham Ox 

134 Bracelet 

135 Lord Banff 

136 St. Valentine 

137 Morris Sheep 

138 Whitehall Marshal 

139 Moms Six 

140 Ruberta 

141 Hermes 

142 Bust of Sherman (see 66) 

143 Winged Victory 

144 Fyvie Baron 

145 Fairholme Footprint 

146 Harviestoun Baroness 

147 Dragon 




18993 



